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1 . 


50 Cents 


Xovell's Series of foreign literature. 

Edited by EDMUND GOSSE. 


GEORG EBERS. 


Joshua: 

A BIBLICAL PICTURE. 

By the Author of “ Uarda.” 


ONLY AUTHORIZED EDITION. 


YORK: 

JOHN W. LOVELL COMPANY, 

150 Worth Street. 

Issued Monthly. Annual Subscription, $5.00. December, 1889. 

Every work i?i this series is published by arrangement with the author , to 
whom a royalty is paid. 


/ 


) 


JOSHUA 











JOSH UA, 


A BIBLICAL PICTURE. 


BY ' 

GEORG EBERS, 

Author of “ Uardaf “ A?i Egyptian Princess etc. y etc. 


ONLY AUTHORIZED EDITION. 


OF co 'V(?/ ? 
rOPYRlGHr 


NEW YORK: 

JOHN W. LOVELL COMPANY, 
No. 150 Worth Street. 

1889. 


DEC 281885 

o i 



V 


Copyright, 1889, 

By John W. Lovell Company. 


GENERAL PREFATORY NOTE 


TO THE 

LIBRARY OF FOREIGN LITERATURE. 

By THE EDITOR. 

There is nothing in which the Anglo-Saxon world differs 
more from the world of tlie Continent of Europe than in its 
fiction. English and American readers are accustomed to 
satisfy their curiosity with American and English novels, and 
| it is rarely indeed that w 7 e turn aside to learn something of 
the interior life of those other countries the exterior scenery 
! of which is often so familiar to us. We climb the Alps, but 
! are content to know nothing of the pastoral romances of 
Switzerland. We steam in and out of the picturesque fjords 
of Norway, but never guess what deep speculation into life 
and morals is made by the novelists of that sparsely peopled 
but richly endowed nation. We stroll across the courts of 
the Alhambra, we are listlessly rowed upon Venetian canals 
and J -ombard lakes. We hasten by night through the roaring 
factories of Belgium, but never pause to inquire whether there 
is now flourishing a Spanish, an Italian, a Flemish school of 
! fiction. Of Russian novels we have lately been taught to be- 
; come partly aware, but we do not ask ourselves whether Po- 
land may not possess a Dostoieffsky and Portugal a Tolstoi. 
Yet, as a matter of fact, there is no European country that 
has not, within the last half century, felt the dew of revival 
on the threshing-floor of its worn-out schools of romance. 
Everywhere there has been shown by young men, endowed 
with a talent for narrative, a vigorous determination to de- 
li vote themselves to a vivid and sympathetic interpretation of 
i nature and of man. In almost every language, too, this move- 
ment has tended to display itself more and more in the direc- 
tion of what is reported and less of what is created. Fancy 
has seemed to these young novelists a poorer thing than ob- 
servation, the world of dreams fainter than the world of men 
They have not been occupied mainly with what might be or 
what should be, but with what is, and in spite of all their 


2 


GENERAL PREFATORY NOTE . 


shortcomings they have combined to produce a series of pict- 
ures of existing society in each of their several countries 
such as cannot fail to form an archive of documents invaluable 
to futurity. 

But to us they should be still more valuable. To travel in 
a foreign country is but to touch its surface. Under the guid- 
ance of a novelist of genius we penetrate to the secrets of a 
nation, and talk the very language of its citizens. We may 
go to Normandy summer after summer and know less of the 
manner of life that proceeds under those gnarled orchards of 
apple-blossom than we learn from one tale of Guy de Mau- 
passant’s. The present series is intended to be a guide to the 
inner geography of Europe. It presents to our readers a 
series of spiritual Baedekers and Murrays. It will endeavor 
to keep pace with every truly characteristic and vigorous ex- 
pression of the novelist’s art in each of the principal European 
countries, presenting what is quite new, if it is also good, 
side by side with what is old, if it has not hitherto been pre- 
sented to our public. That will be selected which gives with 
most freshness and variety the different aspects of continental 
feeling, the only limits of selection being that a book shall be, 
on the one hand, amusing, and on the other wholesome. 

One difficulty wdiicli must be frankly faced is that of sub- 
ject. Life is now treated in fiction by every race but our ow n 
with singular candor. The novelists of the Lutheran North 
are not more fully emancipated from prejudice in this respect 
than the novelists of the Catholic South. Everywhere in Eu- 
rope a novel is looked upon now as an impersonal work, from 
which the writer, as a mere observer, stands aloof, neither 
blaming nor applauding. Continental fiction has excluded, c 
in the main, from among the subjects of its attention, all but 
those facts which are of common experience, and thus the 
novelists having determined to disdain nothing and to repu- 
diate nothing which is common to humanity ; much is freely 
discussed, even in the novels of Holland and of Denmark, 
which our race is apt to treat with a much more gingerly dis- 
cretion. It is not difficult, however, we believe — it is certainly 
not impossible — to discard all which may justly give offence 
and yet to offer to an American public as many of the master- 
pieces of European fiction as we can ever hope to see in- 
cluded in this library. It will be the endeavor of the editor 
to search on all hands and in all languages for such books as 
combine the greatest literary value with the most curious and 
amusing qualities of manner and matter. 


Edmund Gosse, 


PREFACE. 


When in the course of last winter I made up my mind to 
finish this book and occupied myself in giving it the form 
in which it is now offered to the public, I constantly bore 
in mind the dear friend to whom I always intended to 
dedicate it. Now, it is my sad privilege to inscribe it only 
to the Manes of Gustav Baur, for death snatched him away 
only a few months since. 

Every one who had ever come into close communion with 
him felt his death as an unspeakably bitter loss, not only 
because his bright and cheerful nature and happy wit 
brought light to the soul of his friends ; not only because 
he was ready from the brimming stores of his aby^lant 
knowledge to give freely to all who came into intehcctual 
contact with him ; but, above all, because the warm heart 

■ which beamed through his eyes, made him feel the joy and 
sorrow of others as his own, and throw himself into their 
thoughts and feelings. Till my latest day I can never 

j forget how, in these latter years, infirm in body and over- 
whelmed with the work of a professor and a member of the 

! Consistory, he would still constantly find his way to see 

■ me, his yet more crippled friend. The hours it was then 
my good fortune to spend in eager conversation wfith him, 

; were such as we “ write down good,” to quote old Horace, 
whom he knew and loved so well. I have done so ; as I 
gratefully recall them my friend’s voice sounds in my ear 
asking : “And what about the tale of the Exodus ?” 

; When I first told him that it was in the midst of the desert, 
while following up the traces of the fugitive Hebrews, that 

; the idea had occurred to me of treating their wanderings 
in a work of imagination, he expressed his approval with the 
captivating eagerness which was characteristic of the man. 
When, then, I developed the idea which I had first sketched 
riding on a camel, he never was weary of encouraging me, 
although he quite understood my hesitation and fully re- 
cognized the difficulties which surrounded the execution of 
my task. 

This book, then, in a certain sense, is his, and the fact 
that it can no longer be offered to him living, can never 


ii PREFACE. 

be the subject of his subtle judgment, is one of the sorrows 
which make it hard to accept with a good grace the ad- 
vancing years which otherwise have brought so much that 
is sweet. 

He, who was one of the most famous, clear-sighted and 
learned students of the Bible and its exegesis of our day, 
was familiar with all the critical labours which have been 
published within the last few years in the field of Old 
Testament criticism. He took up a determined attitude 
against the views of a younger school who endeavor to ex- 
punge the Exodus of the Israelites from the page of 
history, and regard it as a later outcome of the myth-form- 
ing spirit of the people ; a theory which he, like myself, 
regarded as untenable. One. of his sentences on this ques- 
tion, dwells ,in my memory, to this effect : “If the events 
recorded in the Second Book of Moses really never oc- 
cunl riv —a hypothesis I entirely reject — then no historical 
event entailing equally important results need have hap- 
pened anywhere or at any time. The story of the Exodus 
has, for thousands of years, survived in the minds of num- 
berless human beings as a real event, and has influenced 
them as such. Hence it is no less certainly a part of his- 
tory than the French Revolution and its results/’ 

But in spite of such encouragement, for many years I 
lacked courage to bring my tale of the Exodus to a con- 
clusion, till, last winter, an unexpected request from abroad 
prompted me to take it up again. I then carried it through 
without interruption and with fresh spirit, and I may say 
with rejuvenated delight in the perilous and yet fascinat- 
ing theme. 

The locality of the narrative, the scenery in which it 
moves, I have described as exactly as possible from that 
which I saw in Goshen and the Sinaitic peninsula, and it 
will answer to the preconceptions of many a reader of 
“ Joshua.” With regard to those parts of the story which I 
have introduced on the ground of ancient Egyptian lore it 
will be different. They will surprise the novice, for few, per- 
haps, have ever reflected as to how the events related in 
the Bible from the Jewish point of view, may have effected 
the Egyptians ; or what the political condition of the land 
of the Pharaohs may have been when they bid the Israelites 
depart. I have endeavored to depict these things as truly 
as possible from the monumental records. For the portraits 


PREFACE. 


iii 

of the Hebrews mentioned in Scripture the Bible is the 
best authority, and the character of the Pharaoh of the 
Exodus is also painted from the Bible narrative ; it agrees 
very remarkably with the remaining pictures of the weak 
King Menephtah. From the history of a somewhat later 
period I have borrowed and introduced the conspiracy of 
Siptah ; the accession of Seti II. and the person of Aarsu 
the Assyrian, who, according to the Harris Papyrus No. I. 
(London) seized the reins of government after Siptah had 
been proclaimed king. 

Monsieur Naville’s excavations have left no doubts as to 
the position of Pithom, or Succoth. They brought to light 
the fortified Storehouse of Pithom mentioned in the Bible ; 
and as the narrative tells us that the Israelites rested 
there, and then set forth again, it must be assumed that 
they conquered the garrison of the building and took pos- 
session of the contents of the vast granaries which may 
be seen at this day. 

In my work, published so long ago as 1868,* I already 
pointed out that the Etham of the Bible was identical with 
the Egyptian Khetam, that is to say, the line of fortresses 
which protected the Isthmus of Suez from the attacks of 
the peoples of the East, and my opinion has long since 
been generally accepted. It fully explains the return of 
the wanderers from Etham. 

The Mount of the Lawgiving is, to me, the majestic peak 
of Serbal, not the Sinai of the monks ; my reasons are fully 
explained in my work on Sinai.f I have also endeavoured, 
in the same book, to show that the resting place called in 
the Bible Dophkah, is identical with the abandoned mines 
now called Wadi Maghara. 

The writer has endeavoured by means of the actors in 
his tale, their adventures and reflexions — in part the inven- 
tion of his own fancy — to make the mighty destinies of the 
people he has attempted to describe, more humanly real to 
the sympathetic reader. If he has succeeded in this, with- 
out seeming to dwarf the splendid narrative of the Bible, 
he has attained his end ; if he has failed, he must rest 
content with the pleasure and personal exaltation he has 
enjoyed while composing the work. Georg Ebers. 

Tutzing am Starnberger See. September, 1889. 

* Egypten und die Bucher Mose’s. Leipzig, W. Engelmann. 
t Durch Gosen nach Sinai. Leipzig, W. Engelmann. Second 
Edition, 1882. 


DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY 

OF 


GUSTAV BAUR. 


JOSHUA. 


CHAPTER I. 

“ Go down, grandfather. I will keep watch.” 

But the old man to whom the words were spoken shook 
his shaven head. 

“ But up here you will get no rest.” 

“ And the stars ? — or even below ; rest, in such times 
as these ! Throw my cloak over me — rest in such a fear- 
ful night ! ” 

“You are so cold ; and your hand and the instrument 
shake.” 

“ Then steady my arm.” 

The lad willingly obeyed the request j but after a short 
space he exclaimed : “ It is all in vain. Star after star is 
swallowed up in black clouds. Ah, and the bitter cry of 
the city comes up. Nay, it comes from our own house. I 
am sick at heart, grandfather ; only feel how hot my head 
is. Come down, perchance they need help.” 

11 They are in the hands of the gods, and my place is here. 
But there, there ! Eternal gods ! Look to the north across 
the lake ! No, more to the westward. They come from 
the city of the dead ! ” 

“ Oh* grandfather, father, there ! ” cried the youth, a 
priestly neophyte, who was lending his aid to an elder 
whose grandson he was, the chief astrologer of Amon- 
Ra. 

They were standing on the watchtower of the temple 
of the god at Tanis, the capital of the Pharaohs, in the 
north of the land of Goshen. As he . spoke he drew away 
his shoulder on which the old man was leaning. “ There, 
there! Is the sea swallowing up the land? Have the 
clouds fallen on the earth to surge to and fro ? Oh, grand- 
father, may the immortals have mercy ! the nether world 


4 


JOSHUA. 


is yawning ! The great serpent Apep is come forth from 
the city of the dead ! It comes rolling past the temple. I 
see it, I hear it ! The great Hebrew’s threat is being 
fulfilled ! Our race will be cut off from the earth. The 
serpent ! Its head is set toward the southeast. It will 
surely swallow up the young sun when it rises in the morn- 
ing ! ” 

The old man’s eyes followed the direction of the youth’s 
finger, and he, too, could discern that a vast, black mass, 
whose outline was lost in the darkness, came rolling through 
the gloom, and he, too, heard with a shudder the creature’s 
low roar. 

Both stood with eye and ear alert, staring into the night, 
but the star-gazer’s eye was fixed not upward, but down, 
across the city to the distant sea and level plain. Over- 
head all was silent, and yet not all at rest, for the wind 
swept the dark clouds into shapeless masses in one place, 
while in another it rent the gray shroud, and scattered them 
far and wide. 

The moon was not visible to mortal ken, but the clouds 
played hide and seek with the bright southern stars, now 
covering them, and now giving their rays free passage. And 
as in the firmament, so on earth there was a constant 
change from pallid light to blackest darkness. Now the 
glitter of the heavenly bodies flashed brightly down on the 
sea and estuary, on the polished granite sides of the 
obelisks in the temple precincts and the gilt copper roof 
of the king’s airy palace ; and again, lake and river, the 
sails in the harbor, the sanctuaries and streets of the city, 
and the palm-strewn plain surrounding it were all lost in 
gloom. 

Objects which the eye tried to rest on vanished in an 
instant, and it was the same with the sounds that met the 
ear. For a while the silence would be as deep as though 
all life, far and near, were hushed or dead, and then a 
piercing shriek of woe rent the stillness of the night. And 
then, broken by longer or shorter pauses, that roar was 
heard which the youthful priest had taken for the voice 
of the serpent of the nether world ; and to that the grand- 
father and grandson listened with growing excitement. 

The dusky shape, whose ceaseless movements could be 
clearly made out whenever the stars shot their beams be- 
tween the striving clouds, had its beginning out by the city 


JOSHUA. 


5 


of the dead and the strangers’ quarter. A sudden panic 
had fallen on the old man as on the young one, but he was 
quicker to recover himself, and his keen and practiced eye 
soon discovered that it was not a single gigantic form which 
was rising from the necropolis to cross the plain, but a 
multitude of moving creatures who seemed to be surging 
or swaying to and fro on the meadow land. Nor did the 
hollow hum and wailing come up from one particular spot, 
but was audible now nearer and now more remote. Anon 
he fancied that it was rising from the bosom of the earth, 
and then again that it fell from some airy height. 

Fresh terror came upon the old astrologer. He seized 
his grandson’s hand in his right hand, and pointing with 
his left to the city of the dead, he cried in a trembling 
voice : “ The dead are too many in number. The nether 
world overflows, as the river does when its bed is too 
narrow for the waters of the south. How they swarm and 
sway and surge on ! How they part, hither and thither ! 
These are the ghosts of the thousands whom black death 
hath snatched away, blasted by the Hebrew’s curse, and 
sent unburied, unprotected from corruption, to descend the 
rungs of the ladder which leads to the world without end.” 

“ Yea, it is they ! ” cried the other, in full belief. He 
snatched his hand from the old man’s grasp and struck his 
fevered and burning brow, exclaiming, though hardly able 
to speak for terror : “ They — the damned ! The wind has 
blown them to the sea, and its waters spew them out and 
cast them on the land again, and the blessed earth rejects 
them and drives them into the air. The pure ether of 
Shoo flings them back to the ground, and now — look, 
listen ! They are groaning as they seek the way to the 
desert.” 

“ To the fire ! ” cried the elder. “ Flame, purify them ; 
water, cleanse them ! ” 

The youth joined in the old priest’s form of exorcism, 
and while they chanted it in unison, the trap door was 
lifted which led to this observatory on the top of the 
highest gate of the temple, and a priest of humble grade 
cried to the old man : 

“ Cease thy labors. Who cares now for the stars of 
heaven when all that has life is being darkened on 
earth ? ” 

The old priest listened speechless, till the messenger 


6 


JOSHUA. 


went on to say that it was the astrologer’s wife who had 
sent for him, and then he gasped out : 

“ Hora? Is my son then likewise stricken ? ” 

The priest then bent his head, and both his hearers 
wept bitterly, for the old man was bereft of his first-born 
son, and the lad of a tender father. 

But when the boy, trembling with fear, fell sick and 
sorrowing on his grandfather’s breast, the elder hastily 
freed himself from his embrace and went to the trap door; 
for although the priest had announced himself as the 
messenger of death, it needs more than the bare word of 
another to persuade a father to give up all hope of life for 
his child. The old man went quickly down the stone 
stairs, through the lofty halls and wide courts of the temple ; 
and the lad followed him, although his shaking knees could 
scarcely carry his fevered frame. The blow which had 
fallen within his own little circle had made the old man 
forget the fearful portent which threatened the whole world 
perhaps with ruin ; but the boy could not get rid of the 
vision ; even when he had passed the first court, and was 
in sight of the outermost pylons, to his terrified and 
anxious soul it seemed as though the shadows of the 
obelisks were spinning round, while the two stone statues 
of King Rameses on the corner piers of the great gate beat 
time with the crook in his hand. 

At this the lad dropped fever-stricken on the ground. A 
convulsion distorted his features and tossed his slender 
frame to and fro in frantic spasms ; and the old man, 
falling on his knees, while he guarded the curly head from 
striking the hard stone flags, moaned in a low voice : “ Now, 
it has fallen on him.” 

Suddently he collected himself and shouted aloud for 
help, but in vain, and again in vain. At last his voice fell ; 
he sought consolation in prayer. Then he heard a sound 
of voices from the avenue of sphinxes leading to the great 
gate, and new hope revived in his heart. 

Who could it be who was arriving at so late an hour? 

Mingled with cries of grief the chanting of priests fell 
on his ear, the tinkle and clatter of the metallic sistrum 
shaken by holy women in honor of the god, and the 
measured footfall of men praying as they marched on. 

A solemn procession was approaching. The astrologer 
raised his eyes, and after glancing at the double line of 


JOSHUA. 


7 


granite columns, colossal statues and obelisks in the great 
court, looked up, in obedience to the habits of a lifetime, 
at the starry heavens above, and in the midst of his woe a 
bitter smile parted his sunken lips, for the gods this night 
lacked the honors that were their due. 

For on this night — the first after the new moon in the 
month of Pharmutee — the sanctuary in former years was 
wont to be gay with garlands of flowers. At the dawn of 
day after this moonless night the high festival of the spring 
equinox should begin, and with it the harvest thanks- 
giving. 

At this time a grand procession marched through the 
city to the river and harbor, as prescribed by the Book of 
the Divine Birth of the Sun, in honor of the great goddess 
Neith, of Rennoot, who bestows the gifts of the field, and 
of Horus, at whose bidding the desert blooms ; but to-day 
the silence of death reigned in the sanctuary, whose court- 
yards should have been crowded at this hour with men, 
women and children, bringing offerings to place on the 
very spot where his grandson lay under the hand of death. 

A broad beam of light suddenly fell into the vast court, 
which till now had been but dimly lighted by a few lamps. 
Could they be so mad as to think that the glad festival 
might be held in spite of the nameless horrors of the past 
night ? 

Only the evening before, the priests in council had 
determined that during this pitiless pestilence the temples 
were to be left unadorned and processions to be prohibited. 
By noon yesterday many had failed to attend because 
the plague had fallen on their households, and the 
terror had now come into this very sanctuary, while 
he, who could read the stars, had been watching 
them in their courses. Why else should it have been 
deserted by the watchmen and other astrologers, who had 
been with him at sunset, and whose duty it was to keep 
vigil here all night ? 

He turned once more to the suffering boy with tender 
anxiety, but instantly started to his feet, for the gates 
were opened wide, and the light of torches and lanterns 
poured into the temple court. A glance at the sky showed 
him that it was not long past midnight, and yet his fears 
were surely well grounded — these must be the priests 
crowding into the temple to prepare for the harvest 
festival. 


s 


JOSHUA . 


Not so. 

For when had they come to the sanctuary for this 
purpose, chanting and in procession ? Nor were these all 
servants of the divinity. The populace had joined them. 
In that solemn litany he could hear the shrill wailing of 
women mingled with wild cries of despair such as he had 
never before, in the course of a long life, heard within 
these consecrated walls. 

Or did his senses deceive him ? Was it the groaning 
horde of unresting souls which he had seen from the 
observatory who were crowding into the sanctuary of 
the god ? 

Fresh horrors fell upon him ; he threw up his arms in 
interdiction, and for a few moments repeated the formula 
against the malice of evil spirits ; but he presently dropped 
his hands, for he marked among the throng some friends 
who yesterday, at any rate, had been in the land of the 
living. Foremost, the tall figure of the second prophet of 
the god ; then the women devoted to the service of Amon- 
Ra, the singers and the holy fathers ; and when at last, 
behind the astrologers and pastophoroi, he saw his son-in- 
law, whose home had till yesterday been spared by the 
plague, he took heart and spoke to him. But his voice 
was drowned by the song and cries of the coming multitude. 

The courtyard was now fully lighted ; but every one was 
so absorbed in his own sorrow that no one heeded the old 
astrologer. He snatched the cloak off his own shivering 
body to make a better pillow for the boy’s tossing head, 
and while he did so, with fatherly care, he could hear 
among the chanting and wailing of the approaching crowd, 
first, frantic curses on the Hebrews, through whom these 
woes had fallen on Pharaoh and his people, and then, 
again and again, the name of the heir to the crown, Prince 
Rameses ; and the tone in which it was spoken, and the 
formulas of mourning which were added, announced to all 
who had ears to hear that the eyes of the first-born of the 
king on his throne were also sealed in death. 

As he gazed with growing anguish in his grandson’s pale 
face, the lamentations for the prince rang out afresh and 
louder than ever, and a faint sense of satisfaction crept 
into his soul at the impartiality of Death, who spared not 
the sovereign on his throne any more than the beggar by 
the wayside. 


JOSHUA . 9 

He knew now what had brought this noisy throng to the 
sanctuary. 

He went forward with such haste as his old limbs would 
allow to meet the column of mourners, but before he 
could join them he saw the gatekeeper and his wife come 
out of the gatehouse, bearing between them, on a mat, the 
corpse of a boy. The husband held one end, his frail, tiny 
wife held the other ; and the stalwart man had to stoop low 
to keep their stiff burden in a horizontal position that it 
might not slip down towards the woman. Three children 
closed the melancholy party, and a little girl holding a 
lantern led the way. 

No one, perhaps, would have observed them, but that the 
gatekeeper’s wife shrieked forth her griefs so loudly and 
shrilly that it was impossible not to hear her cries. The 
second prophet of Amon turned to look, and then his compa- 
nions ; the procession came to a standstill, and, as some 
of the priests went nearer to the body, the father cried in 
a loud voice : “ Away, away from the plague-stricken ! 
Our first-born is dead ! ” 

The mother, meanwhile, had snatched the lantern from 
her little daughter, and, holding it so as to throw a light 
on the face of the dead boy, she shrieked out : 

“ The god hath suffered it to come to pass. Yes, even 
under our own roof. But it is not his will, but the curse 
of the stranger in the land that has come over us and our 
lives. Behold, this was the first-born; and two temple 
servants have likewise been taken. One is dead already ; 
he is lying in our little room yonder ; and there — see, 
there lies young Kamus, the grandson of Rameri, the star- 
reader. We heard the old man calling and saw what was 
happening, but who can hold another man’s house up when 
his own is falling about his ears ? Beware while it is yet 
time, for the gods have opened even the temple gates to 
the abomination, and if the whole world should perish I 
should not be surprised, and never complain — certainly 
not. My lords and priests, I am but a poor and humble 
woman, but am I not in the right when I ask : Are our 
gods asleep ? Has a magic spell bound them ? Or 
what are they doing, and where are they, that they leave 
us and our children in the power of the vile Hebrew 
race ? ” 


10 


JOSHUA . 


li Down with them ! Down with the strangers ! They 
are magicians. Into the sea with Mesu,* the sorcerer ! ” 
As an echo follows a cry, so did these imprecations follow 
the woman’s curse ; and Hornecht, the old astrologer’s 
son-in-law, captain of the archers, whose blood boiled over 
at the sight of his dying, fair young nephew, brandished 
his short sword, and cried in a frenzy of rage : “ Follow 

me, every man who has a heart ! At them ! Life for 
life ! Ten Hebrews for each Egyptian whom their sorcerer 
has killed ! ” 

A flock will rush into the fire if only the ram leads the 
way, and the crowd flocked to follow the noble warrior. 
The women pushed in front of the men, thronging the door- 
way, and as the servants of the sanctuary hesitated till 
they should know the opinion of the prophet of Amon, 
their leader drew up in his majestic figure, and said deli- 
berately : 

“ All who wear priests’ robes remain to pray with me. 
The people are the instrument of heaven, and it is theirs to 
repay. We stay here to pray for success to their ven- 
geance.” 


CHAPTER II. 

Baie, the second prophet of Amon, who acted as deputy 
for the now infirm old head prophet and high priest Ruie, 
withdrew into the holy of holies, and while the multitude 
of the inferior ministers of the god proceeded to their 
various duties, the infuriated crowd hurried through the 
streets of the town to the strangers’ quarter. 

As a swollen torrent raging through a valley carries down 
with it everything in its way, so the throng, as they rushed 
to their revenge, compelled every one on their road to join 
them. Every Egyptian from whom death had snatched 
his nearest and dearest was ready to join the swelling tide, 
and it grew till it numbered hundreds of thousands. Men, 
women and children, slaves and free, borne on the wings 
of their desire to wreak ruin and death on the detested 
Hebrews, flew to the distant quarter where they dwelt. 


* Mesu is the Egyptian form of the name of Moses. 


JOSHUA . 


n 


How this artisan had laid hold of a chopper or that 
housewife had clutched an axe, they themselves scarcely 
knew. They rushed on to kill and destroy, and they had 
not sought the weapons they needed ; they had found 
them ready to their hand. 

The first they hoped to fall upon in their mad fury was 
Nun, a venerable Hebrew, respected and beloved by many 
— a man rich in herds, who had done much kindness to 
the Egyptians ; but where hatred and revenge make them- 
selves heard, gratitude stands shy and speechless in the 
background. 

His large estates lay, like the houses and huts of the 
men of his race, in the strangers’ quarter, to the west of 
Tanis, and were the nearest of them all to the streets inha- 
bited by the Egyptians themselves. 

At this morning hour Nun’s flocks and herds were wont 
to be taken, first to water, and then to the pasture ; so the 
large yard in front of his house would be full of cattle, farm 
nien and women, carts and field implements. The owner 
himself commonly ordered the going of his beasts, and he 
and his were to be the first victims of the popular rage. 

The swiftest runners had already reached his spacious 
farm, and among them Hornecht, the captain of the arch- 
ers. There lay the house and buildings in the first bright 
beams of the morning sun, and a brawny smith kicked 
violently at the closed door ; but there was no bolt, and it 
flew open so readily that he had to clutch at the door post 
to save himself from falling. Others pushed by him into 
the courtyard, among them the archer chief. 

But what was the meaning of this ? 

Had some new charm been wrought to show the power 
of Mesu, who had brought such terrible plagues already on 
the land, and display the might of his god ? 

The yard was empty, absolutely empty ; only in their 
stalls lay a few cattle and sheep, slain because they had 
suffered from injury, while a lame lamb hobbled away at 
the sight of the intruders. Even the carts and barrows 
had vanished. The groaning and bleating crowd, which 
the star-gazer had taken to be the spirits of the damned, 
was the host of the Hebrews, who had fled by night with 
all their herds, under the guidance of Moses. 

The leader dropped his sword, and it might have been 
thought that the scene before him was to him an agreeable 


12 


JOSHUA . 


surprise ; but his companion, a scribe from the king’s 
treasury, looked round the deserted courtyard with the dis- 
appointed air of a man who has been cheated. 

The tide of passions and schemes which had risen high 
during the night, ebbed under the broad light of day. 
Even the soldier’s easily-stirred ire had subsided to compa- 
rative calm. The mob might have done their worst to the 
other Hebrews, but not to Nun, whose son Hosea (Joshua) 
had been his comrade in battle, one of the most esteemed 
captains in the field, and a private friend of his own. If 
Hornecht had foreseen that Nun’s farmstead would be the 
first spot to be attacked, he would never have led the mob 
to their revenge, and once more in his life he bitterly rued 
that he had been carried away by sudden wrath to forget 
the calm demeanor which beseemed his years. And now, 
while some of the crowd proceeded to rifle and pull down 
Nun’s deserted dwellings, men and women came running 
in to say that no living soul was to be found in any of the 
other houses near. Some had to tell of yelling cats squat- 
ting on vacant hearths, of beasts past service found 
slaughtered, and broken household gear, till at last the 
angry crowd dragged forward a Hebrew with his family, 
and a grey-haired, half-witted woman whom they had 
hunted out among some straw. The old woman laughed 
foolishly and said that her people had called her till they 
were hoarse, but Mehela knew better ; and as for walking, 
walking forever, as her people meant to do, that she could 
not ; her feet were too tender, and she had not even a pair 
of sandals. 

The man, a hideous Jew, whom few even of his own race 
would have regarded with pity, declared, first with humi- 
lity, bordering on servility, and then with the insolent 
daring that was natural to him, that he had nothing to do 
with the god of lies in whose name the impostor Moses 
had tempted away his people, but that he and his wife and 
child had always been friends with the Egyptians. As a 
matter of fact he was known to many, being an usurer, and 
when the rest of his tribe had taken up their staves he had 
hidden himself, hoping to pursue his dishonest dealings 
and come to no loss. 

But some of his debtors were among the furious mob ; 
and even without them he had not a chance for his life, for 
he was the first object on which the excited multitude 


JOSHUA. 


13 


couid prove that they were in earnest in their revenge. 
They rushed on him with yells of rage, and in a few 
minutes the bodies of the hapless wretch and his family 
lay dead on the ground. No one knew who had done 
the bloody deed ; too many had fallen on the victims 
at once. 

Others who had remained behind were dragged forth 
from houses or hovels, and they were not a few, though 
many had time to escape into the country. These all fell 
victims to the wrath of the populace ; and while their 
blood was flowing, axes were heaved, and doors and walls 
were battered down with beams and posts to destroy the 
dwellings of the detested race from the face of the earth. 

The glowing embers which some furious women had 
brought with them were extinguished and trodden out, for 
the more prudent warned them of the danger which must 
threaten their own adjoining dwellings and the whole city 
of Tanis if the strangers’ quarter were set in flames. 

Thus the homes of the Hebrews were spared from fire, 
but as the sun rose higher the site of the dwellings they 
had deserted was wrapped in an impenetrable cloud of 
white dust from the ruins, and on the spot where, but 
yesterday, thousands of human beings had had a happy 
home, and where vast herds had slaked their thirst by 
fresh waters, nothing was now to be seen but heaps of 
rubbish and stone, while broken timber and splintered 
woodwork strewed the scorching soil. Dogs and cats, 
abandoned by the fugitives, prowled among the ruins, and 
were presently joined by the women and children who 
herded in the beggars’ hovels on the skirts of the neighbor- 
ing necropolis, and who now, with their hands over their 
mouths, poked among the choking dust and piles of 
lumber for any vessels or broken victuals which the He- 
brews might have left behind and the plunderers have over- 
looked. 

In the course of the afternoon Baie was borne in his 
litter past the scene of devastation. He had not come 
hither to feast his eyes on the sight of the ruins, but because 
they lay in the nearest way from the city of the dead to his 
own home. Nevertheless, a smile of satisfaction curled his 
grave lips as he noted how thoroughly the populace had 
done their work. What he himself had hoped to see had 
not indeed been carried out ; the leader of the fugitives had 


14 


JOSHUA. 


evaded their revenge ; but hatred, though it is never 
satiated, can be easily gratified. Even the smaller woes 
of an enemy are joy, and the priest had just quitted the 
mourning Pharaoh, and though he had not yet succeeded 
in freeing him completely from the bonds laid upon him 
by the Hebrew soothsayer, yet he had loosened them. 

Three words had the proud, ambitious man murmured 
to himself again and again — a man not wont to talk to him- 
self — as he sat alone in the sanctuary, meditating on what 
had happened and on what had to be done ; and those 
three words were : “ Bless me also ! ” 

It was Pharaoh who had spoken them, addressing the 
petition to another; and that other not old Ruie, the pon- 
tiff and high priest, nor Baie himself, the only men living 
whose privilege it could be to bless the king ; no, but the 
worst of the accursed, the stranger, the Hebrew Mesu, 
whom he hated as he hated none other on earth. 

“ Bless me also ! ” That pious entreaty, which springs 
so confidingly from the human soul in anguish, had pierced 
his soul like a dagger-thrust. He felt as though such a 
prayer, addressed by such lips to such a man, had broken 
the staff in the hand of the whole priesthood of Egypt, had 
wrenched the panther skin from its shoulders, and cast a 
stain on all the nation he loved. 

He knew Mesu well for one of the wisest sages ever pro- 
duced by the schools of Egypt ; he knew full well that 
Pharaoh was spell bound by this man, who had grown up 
in his house, and had been the friend of the great Rameses, 
his father. He had seen the monarch pardon misdeeds in 
Mesu which any other man, were he the highest in the 
land, must have expiated with his life ; and how dear must 
this Hebrew have been to Pharaoh — the sun-god on the 
throne of the world — when he could compel the king, 
standing by the death-bed of his son, to uplift his hands to 
him and implore him : “ Bless me also.” 

All this he had told himself and weighed with due care, 
and still he, Baie, could not, would not, yield to the power- 
ful Hebrew. He had regarded it as his most urgent and 
sacred duty to bring destruction on him and his whole race. 
To fulfil that duty he would not have hesitated to lay hands 
on the throne ; indeed, in his eyes, by the utterance of 
that blasphemous entreaty, “ Bless me also,” Pharaoh 
Menephtah had forfeited his right to the sovereignty. 


JOSHUA. 


*5 


Moses was the murderer of Pharaoh’s first-born, whereas 
he himself and the venerable high priest of Amon held the 
weal or woe of the deceased youth’s soul in their hands. 
And this weapon was a keen and a strong one, for he knew 
how tender and irresolute was the king’s heart. If the 
high-priest of Amon — the only man who stood above him 
— did not contravene him in some unaccountable fit of 
senile caprice, it would be a small matter to reduce Pharaoh 
to submission, but the vacillating monarch might repent 
to-morrow of what he resolved to-day, if the Hebrew 
should again succeed in coming between him and his 
Egyptian counselors. Only this very day, on hearing the 
name of Moses spoken in his presence, the degenerate son 
of Raineses the Great had covered his face and quaked 
like a frightened gazelle, and to-morrow he might curse 
him and pronounce sentence of death against him. He 
might perhaps be persuaded to do this ; but even then by 
the day after he would very surely recall him and beseech 
his blessing once more. 

Away with such a monarch ! Down with the feeble 
reed who sat on the throne, down to the very dust ! Baie 
had found a fitting successor among the princes of the 
blood royal, and when the time should come — when Ruie, 
the high priest of Amon, should cross the boundary of the 
time of life granted to man by the gods, and close his eyes 
in death — then he, Baie himself, would fill his place ; a new 
life should begin for Egypt, and Moses and his tribes were 
doomed. 

As the prophet thus meditated a pair of ravens fluttered 
around his head, and then, croaking loudly, alighted on the 
dusky ruins of one of the wrecked tenements. His eye 
involuntarily followed their flight and perceived that they 
had settled on the body of a dead Hebrew, half buried in 
rubbish ; and again a smile stole over his cunning, defiant 
features, a smile which the inferior priests who stood about 
his litter could by no means interpret. 


i6 


JOSHUA. 


CHAPTER III. 

Hornecht, captain of the bowmen, had by this time joined 
company with the prophet. He was, indeed, in his con 
fidence, for the warrior likewise was one of the men of high 
rank who had conspired to overthrow the reigning Pharaoh. 

As they approached the ruined dwelling of Nun the 
priest pointed to the heap of destruction and said : The 
man to whom this once belonged is the only Hebrew I 
fain- would spare. He was a man of worth, and his son 
Joshua ” 

“ He will be true to us,” interrupted the captain. “ Few 
better men serve in the ranks of Pharaoh’s armies, and,” 
he added, in a lower voice, I count on him in the day of 
deliverance.” 

“ Of that we will speak before fewer witnesses,” replied 
the other. “ But I owe him a special debt of gratitude. 
During the Libyan war — you know of it — I was betrayed 
into the hands of the enemy, and Joshua, with his handful 
of men, cut me a way of escape from the wild robbers.” 
Then, dropping his voice, he went on in his didactic man- 
ner, as though he were making excuse for the mischief 
before them. “ Such is life here below ! When a whole 
race of men incurs punishment, the evil falls on the guilt- 
less with the guilty. Not even the gods can in such a case 
divide the individual from the mob ; the visitation falls 
even on the innocent beasts. Look at that flock of 
pigeons hovering over the ruins ; they seek the dovecote 
in vain. And that cat with her kittens ! Go, Bekie, and 
rescue them ; it is our duty to preserve the sacred animals 
from starving to death.” 

And this man, who had contemplated the destruction of 
so many of his fellow-creatures with barbarous joy, took 
the kindly care of the unreasoning brutes so much to heart 
that he made the bearers stop, and looked on while the 
servants caught the cats. But this was not so quickly 
done as he had hoped, for the mother fled into the nearest 
cellar opening, and the gap was so narrow as to prevent 


JOSHUA. 


17 


the men from following her. However, the youngest of 
them all, a slim Nubian, undertook to fetch her out; but 
he had hardly looked down into the opening when he 
started back and cried to his lord : 

“A human being is lying there, and seems to be yet 
alive. Yes, he beckons with his hand. It is a boy or a 
youth, and certainly not a slave. His hair is long and 
curly, and on his arm — for a sunbeam falls straight in — I 
can see a broad gold band.” 

“ One of the family of Nun, perhaps, who has been for- 
gotten,” said the warrior, and Baie eagerly added : “ It is 
the guidance of the gods ! The sacred beasts have led me 
to the spot where I may do a service to the man to whom 
I owe so much. Try and make your way in, Bekie, and 
fetch the youth out.” 

The Nubian, meanwhile, had moved away a stone, which, 
in its fall, had partly closed the entrance, and in a short 
while he held up to his comrades a motionless young form, 
which they lifted out into the open air and carried to a 
well. There they soon brought him back to life with the 
cool water. 

As he recovered consciousness he rubbed his eyes, 
looked about him in bewilderment as though he knew not 
where he was, and then his head fell on his breast as if 
overcome by grief and horror, and it could be seen that at 
the back of his head the hair was matted with dark patches 
of dried blood. 

By the prophet’s care the wound, which was deep, from 
a stone which had fallen on the lad, was washed at the 
well ; and when it was bound up he bid him get into his 
own litter, which was screened from the sun. 

The youth had arrived before sunrise, after a long walk 
by night from Pithom, called by the Hebrews Succoth, to 
bring a message to his grandfather, Nun, but finding the 
place deserted he had lain down in one of the empty rooms 
to rest awhile. Awakening at the uproar of the infuriated 
Egyptians, and hearing the curses on his race, which rang 
out on every side, he had fled to the cellar, and the falling 
roof, although he had been hurt, had proved his salvation, 
for the clouds of dust which had hidden everything as it 
crashed down had concealed him from the sight of the 
plunderers. 

The priest gazed at him attentively, and though the 


i8 


JOSHUA. 


youth was unwashed and pale, with a blood-stained band- 
age around his head, he could see that the being he had 
restored to life was a handsome, well-grown lad, on the 
verge of manhood. Full of eager sympathy, he mollified 
the stern gravity of his eye, and questioned him kindly as 
to whence he came and what had brought him to Tanis, for 
it was impossible to tell from the youth’s features even of 
what nation he might be. He might easily have passed 
himself off as an Egyptian, but he quite frankly owned that 
he was the grandson of Nun. He was eighteen years of 
age, his name was Ephraim, like his ancestor the son of 
Joseph, and he had come to see his grandfather. And he 
spoke with an accent of steadfast self-respect and joy in 
his illustrious descent. 

When asked whether he had been the bearer of a message 
he did not forthwith reply, but after collecting his thoughts 
he looked fearlessly into the prophet’s face and answered 
frankly : 

“ Be you who you may, F have been taught to speak the 
truth. You shall know, then, that I have another kinsman 
dwelling in Tanis — Joshua, the son of Nun, who is a captain 
in Pharaoh’s army, and I have a message for him.” 

“And you shall know,” replied the priest, “that it was 
for the sake of that very Joshua that I lingered here and 
bid my servants rescue you alive from that ruined house. 
I owe him thanks ; and although the greater number of 
your nation have done deeds worthy of the heaviest 
punishment, yet for his noble sake you shall dwell among 
us free and unharmed.” 

On this the boy looked up at the priest with a flash of 
eager pride ; but before he could speak, Baie went on with 
encouraging friendliness : 

“ I read in your eyes, my boy, if I am not mistaken, that 
you are come to seek service under your Uncle Joshua in 
Pharaoh’s army. Your stature should make you skillful in 
handling weapons, and you certainly cannot lack for 
daring.” 

A smile of flattered vanity lighted up Ephraim’s face, 
and turning the broad gold bangle on his arm, perhaps 
unconsciously, he eagerly replied : 

“ I am brave, my lord, and have proved it often in the 
hunting-field. But at home there are cattle and sheep in 
abundance, which I already call my own, and it seems to 


JOSHUA. 


*9 


me a better lot to wander free and rule the shepherds, than 
to do what others bid me.” 

“So, so,” replied the priest. “ Well, Joshua perhaps 
will bring you to another and a better mind. To rule ! a 
noble goal indeed for a youth ! The pity is that we who 
have reached it are but servants, the more heavily-bur- 
dened in proportion to the greater number of those who 
obey us. You understand me, captain; and you, boy, 
will understand me later, when you have become such a 
palm tree as your sapling growth promises. But time 
presses. Who sent you hither to Joshua? ” 

The youth again looked down and hesitated ; but when 
the prophet had broken in on his silence by saying, “ And 
that candor which you have been taught ? ” he replied 
firmly and decidedly : “ I came to do pleasure to a woman 
whom you know not. Let that suffice.” 

“ A woman ! ” echoed the prophet, and he cast an in- 
quiring glance at Hornecht. “ When a valiant warrior 
and a fair woman seek each other the Hathors are wont 
to intervene and use the binding * cords, but it ill be- 
seems a minister of the divinity to play spectator to such 
doings, so I inquire no further. Take this boy under your 
protection, captain, and help him to carry his errand to 
Rosea. The only question is whether he is yet returned.” 

“ No,” replied the soldier, “ but this very day he and 
10,000 men are expected at the armory.” 

“ Then may the Hathors, who favor love-messages, bring 
these two to a meeting no later than to-morrow ! ” cried 
the priest. But the youth broke in indignantly : “ I bear 
no love-message from one to the other ! ” 

And the priest, who was well pleased by Ins boldness, re- 
plied gayly : “ I had forgotten that I am speaking to a shep- 
herd-prince.” Then he added more gravely, “ When you 
shall have found Joshua give him greeting from me, and 
say to him that Baie, the second prophet of Amon, whom he 
saved from the hand of the Libyans, believes that he is 
paying some part of his debt by extending a protecting 
hand over you, his nephew. You, bold youth, know not, 
perhaps, that you were in other and greater danger than 
that from your wound. The furious Egyptians would no 
more have spared your life than would the choking dust 


* The Hathors were the Egyptian love goddesses. They are often 
depicted with cords in their hands. 


20 


JOSHUA. 


and falling houses. Bear that in mind, and tell Joshua, 
moreover, from me, Baie, that I am sure that as soon as 
he sees with his own eyes the misery wrought on the 
house of Pharoah, to which he has sworn allegiance, and 
with it on this city and on the whole land, by the magic 
arts of one of your race, he will cut himself off in horror 
from those cowards. For they have basely fled, after 
slaying the best and dearest of those among whom they 
have dwelt in peace, whose protection they have enjoyed, 
and who for long years have given them work and fed 
them abundantly. If I know him at all, as an honest man 
he will turn his back on those who have sinned thus. 
And you may tell him likewise, that the Hebrew officers and 
fighting men under the captainship of Aarsu, the Syrian, 
have already done so of their own free will. This day — and 
Joshua will have heard the tidings from others — they 
offered sacrifice, not only to their own gods, Baal and Set, 
whom you, too, many of you, were wont to serve before 
the vile magician, Mesu, led you astray, but also to Father 
Amon and the sacred nine of our eternal gods. And if 
he will do likewise, he and I, hand in hand, will rise to 
great power — of that he may be assured — and he is worthy 
of it. The rest of the debt of gratitude I still owe him I 
will find other means of paying, which as yet must remain 
undiscovered. But you may promise your uncle from 
me that I will take care of Nun, his worthy father, when 
the vengeance of the gods and of Pharaoh overtakes the 
other mefi of your nation. Already — tell him this likewise 
— is the sword set, and judgment without mercy shall be 
done on them. Tell him to ask himself what can fugitive 
shepherds do against the might of that army of which he 
himself is one of the captains ? Is your father yet alive, 
my son ? ” 

** No ; he was borne out long since,” replied Ephraim in 
a broken voice. 

Was it that the fever of his wound was too much for 
him ? That the disgrace of belonging to a race who 
could do such shameful deeds overpowered his young 
soul? Or was the youth true to his people, and was it 
wrath and indignation that made his cheek turn pale, then 
red, and stirred up such turmoil in his soul that he could 
hardly speak ? No matter. But it was clear that he was 
no fit bearer of this message to his uncle, and the priest 


JOSHUA. 


21 


signed to the captain to come with him under the shade of 
a broad sycamore tree. The Hebrew must at any rate be 
retained with the army ; he laid his hand on his friend’s 
shoulder, saying : “You know that it was my wife who 
won you over to our great scheme. She serves it better 
and with greater zeal than many a man, and while I admire 
your daughter’s beauty, she is full of praises of her win- 
ning charm.” 

“ And Kasana is to join the conspiracy ? ” exclaimed 
the soldier in displeasure. 

“ Not as an active partner, like my wife — of course not.” 

“She would hardly serve that end,” replied the other in 
a calmer tone, “ for she is like a child.” 

“ And yet she may win over to our cause a man whose 
goodwill appears to be inestimable.” 

“You mean Joshua?” asked Hornecht, and again his 
brow grew black, while the prophet went on. 

“ And if I do ? Is he not a noble Hebrew, and can 
you think it unworthy of the daughter of a warrior of 
valor to give her hand to the man who, if our undertaking 
prospers, will act as chief captain over all the troops of 
the land ? ” 

“ No, my lord,” cried the archer. “ But one of the 
causes of my wrath against Pharaoh, and of my taking 
part with Siptah, is that his mother was not of our nation, 
while Egyptian blood flows in Siptah’s veins. Now, the 
mother determines a man’s race, and Joshua’s mother was 
a Hebrew woman. I call him my friend ; I know how to 
value his merits ; Kasana is well inclined to him ” 

“And yet you desire a greater son-in-law?” interrupted 
Baie. “ How can our difficult enterprise prosper if those 
who risk their lives in it think the very first sacrifice too 
great? And your daughter, you say, is well inclined to 
Joshua.” 

“ She was ; yes, truly,” the soldier put in. “Yes, her 
heart longed after him. But I brought her to obedience ; 
she became the wife of another ; and now that she is 
a widow shall I be the one to offer her to him whom I com- 
pelled her to give up — the gods alone know how hardly ? 
When was the like ever heard of in Egypt ? ” 

“ Whenever the men and women by the Nile have so 
far mastered themselves as to submit to necessity in 
opposition to their own wishes, for the sake of a great 


22 


JOSHUA. 


cause,” replied the priest. “ Think of these things. We 
shall meet again this evening — you know where. Wean- 
while will you give hospitality to Joshua’s nephew and 
bespeak your fair daughter’s care, for he seems to need it 
sorely.” 

In fact, hunger, thirst, loss of blood and a long struggle 
against suffocation had broken Ephraim’s youthful 
strength. On the skirts of the necropolis, where litters 
stood awaiting the convenience of visitors, he was placed 
in one by himself and carried to his destination. 


CHAPTER IV. 

There was mourning in the house of Hornecht, as in 
every house in the city. The men had shaved their heads 
and the women had strewn dust on their foreheads. The 
captain’s wife was long since dead, but his daughter and 
her women met him with waving veils and loud wailing, 
for their lord’s brother-in-law was bereft both of his first- 
born son and of his grandson ; and in how many houses of 
their circle of friends had the plague claimed its victims. 

However, the fainting youth demanded all the women’s 
care ; he was washed, and the deep wound in his head 
was freshly bound up ; strong wine and food were set 
before him, and then, refreshed and strengthened, he 
followed at the bidding of his host’s daughter. 

The dust-stained and exhausted lad now stood revealed 
as a handsome young fellow. His scented hair flowed in 
long, waving locks from beneath the clean, white bandage, 
and his elastic, sunburnt limbs were covered by Egyptian 
garments embroidered with gold out of the wardrobe of 
the captain’s deceased son-in-law. He seemed pleased to 
see himself in the handsome raiment, from which there 
proceeded a fragrance of spikenard new to his experience, 
for his black eyes brightly lighted up his well-cut features. 

It was long since the captain’s daughter had seen a 
better-favored youth, and she herself was full of great and 
lovely charm. After a brief married life with a man she 
had never loved, Kasana, within a year, had come back 
a widow to her father’s house, where there was now no 
mistress ; and the great wealth of which she had become 


JOSHUA . 


23 


possessed by her husband’s death enabled her to bring 
into the warrior’s modest home the tsplendor and luxury 
which to her had become a necessity. 

Her father, who in many a contest had proved himself 
a man of violent temper, now yielded to her will in all 
things. In past time he had ruthlessly asserted his own, 
and had forced her at the age of fifteen into a marriage 
with a man much older than herself. This he had done 
because he had observed that Kasana’s young heart was 
set on Joshua, the man of war, and he deemed it beneath 
him to accept the Hebrew, who at that time held no place 
of honor in the army, as a son-in-law. An Egyptian 
could but obey her father without demur when he chose 
her a husband, and so Kasana had submitted, though dur- 
ing the period of her betrothal she shed so many bitter 
tears that the archer-captain was glad indeed when she 
had done his bidding and given her hand to the husband 
of his choice. 

But even in her widowhood his daughter’s heart clung 
to the Hebrew ; for when the army was in the field she 
never ceased to be anxious, and spent her days and nights 
in troubled unrest. When tidings came from the front she 
asked only concerning Joshua, and it was to her love for 
him that Hornecht, with deep vexation, ascribed her 
repeated rejection of suitor after suitor. As a widow she 
had the right to dispose of her hand, and this gentle yield- 
ing young creature would amaze her father by the abrupt 
decisiveness with which she made her independence felt, 
not alone to him and her suitors, but likewise to Prince 
Siptah, whose cause her father had made his own. 

This day Kasana expressed her satisfaction at Joshua's 
home-coming so frankly and unreservedly, that the hot- 
tempered man hastened out of the house lest he should be 
led into some ill-considered act or speech. He left the 
care of their young guest to his daughter and her faithful 
nurse ; and how delightful to the lad’s sensitive soul was 
the effect of the warrior’s home, with its lofty, airy rooms, 
open colonnades and bright, richly-colored paintings ; its 
artistic vessels and ornaments, soft couches and all-per- 
vading fragrance. All this was new and strange to the 
son of a pastoral patriarch, accustomed to live within 
the bare, grey walls of a spacious, but perfectly grace- 
less farm dwelling ; or f for months at a time in canvas 


24 


JOSHUA. 


tents, amid flocks and shepherds, and more often in the 
open air than under a roof or shelter. He felt as 
though by enchantment he had been transported to some 
higher and more desirable world, and as though he became 
it well in his splendid garb, with his oiled and per- 
fumed curls and freshly-bathed limbs. Life, indeed, 
was everywhere fair, even out in the fields among the 
herds, or in the cool of the evening round the fire in 
front of the tent, where the shepherds sang songs, and 
the hunters told tales of adventure, while the stars 
shone brightly overhead. But hard and hated labor 
had first to be done. Here it was a joy merely to 
gaze and breathe; and when presently the curtain was 
lifted and the young widow greeted him kindly and 
made him sit down by her, now questioning him and 
now listening sympathetically to his replies, he almost 
fancied that he had lost his senses, as he had done 
under the ruins in the cellar, and that the sweetest of 
dreams was cheating him. 

The feeling which now seemed to choke him, and again 
and again hindered his utterance, was surely the excess of 
bliss poured down upon him by great Astarte, the partner 
of Baal, of whom he had heard many tales from the Phoe- 
nician traders who supplied the shepherd settlers with 
various good things, and of whom he was forbidden by 
stern Miriam ever to speak at home. 

His people had implanted in his young soul a hatred of 
the Egyptians as the oppressors of his race ; but could they 
be so evil, could he abhor a natidn among whom there were 
such beings to be found as the fair and gentle lady who 
looked so softly and yet so warmly into his eyes ; whose 
gaze set his blood in such swift motion that he could hardly 
bear it, as he pressed his hand to his heart to still its wild 
throbbing ? 

There she sat opposite to him, on a stool covered with 
a panther skin, and drew the wool from the distaff. He 
had taken her fancy, and she had welcomed him warmly 
because he was kin to the man she had loved from her 
childhood. She believed she could trace a likeness in him 
to Joshua, although the boy still lacked the gravity of the 
man to whom she had given her young heart, when and 
how she herself could not tell, for he had never sued for 
her love. 


JOSHUA. 


2 5 


A lotos-flower was fastened into her well-arranged waving 
black hair, and its stem lay in a graceful curve on her bent 
neck, round which hung a mass of beautiful curls. When 
she raised her eyes to look into his, it was as though two 
deep wells opened before him to pour streams of bliss into 
his young breast, and that slender hand, which spun the 
yarn, he had already touched in greeting and held in his 
own. 

Presently she inquired of him concerning Joshua and the 
woman who had sent him a message — whether she were 
young and fair, and whether there were any tie of love 
between her and his uncle. At this Ephraim laughed 
aloud. For she who had sent him was so grave and stern 
that the mere idea of her being capable of a tender emo- 
tion roused his mirth. As to whether she were fair, he 
had never given it a thought. 

The young widow took this laughter as the most wel- 
come reply she could hear, and with a sigh of relief she laid 
aside the spindle she held and desired Ephraim to come 
with her into the garden. 

How sweet it was with scent and bloom, how well 
trimmed were the beds, the paths, the arbors and the 
pool ! The only pleasance of his simple home was a broad 
courtyard devoid of ornament, full of pens for cattle and 
sheep ; yet he knew that some day he would be ruler 
over great possessions, for he was the only son and heir of 
a rich father, and his mother was a daughter of the 
wealthy Nun. The serving-men had told him all this 
many a time, and it vexed his soul to see that his own 
home was little better than the quarters for the captain’s 
slaves, which Kasana pointed out to him. 

As they rambled through the garden she bid Ephraim 
help her pluck some flowers, and when the basket which 
he carried for her was full, she invited him to sit with her 
in an arbor, and lend a hand in twining garlands. These 
were offerings to the beloved dead. Her uncle and a 
favorite cousin — somewhat like Ephraim himself — had 
been snatched away during the past night by the pesti- 
lence, which his folks had brought upon Tanis. 

And from the street which ran along the garden wall the 
wailing of women was incessantly heard, as they mourned 
over the dead or bore a corpse to its burying ; and, when 
suddenly it rose louder and more woeful than before, she 


2 6 


JOSHUA. 


gently reproached him for all that the people of Tanis had 
suffered for the sake of the Hebrews, and asked him if he 
could deny that her nation had good reason to hate a 
race that had brought such plagues upon it. 

To this he found it difficult to answer discreetly, for he 
had been told that it was the God of his people who had 
stricken the Egyptians, to release His own from oppres- 
sion and slavery, and he dare not deny or contemn his 
own flesh and blood. So he was silent, that he might 
neither lie nor blaspheme, but she gave him no peace, and 
at last he made answer that all which ended in sorrow was 
repugnant to him, but that his people had no power over 
health and life, and that when a Hebrew was sick he very 
commonly applied to an Egyptian leech. What had now 
come to pass was no doubt the act of the great God of his 
fathers, who was of more might than all other gods. He, 
at any rate, was a Hebrew, and she might believe him 
when he assured her that he was guiltless of the pestilence, 
and that he would gladly call her uncle and cousin back to 
life again if he had it in his power. For her sake he was 
ready to do anything, even the hardest task. 

She smiled on him sweetly and said : “ Poor boy ! If I 
find a fault in you, it is only that you belong to a race to 
whom patience and pity are alike unknown. Alas ! for 
our hapless and beloved dead. They jnust even be de- 
prived of the songs of lamentation of those who mourn for 
them ; for the house where they lie is plague-stricken and 
none may enter there.” 

She dried her eyes and said no more, but went on wind- 
ing her garland ; but tear after tear rolled down her 
cheeks. He knew not what more to say, and could only 
hand her flowers and leaves. Whenever her hand chanced 
to touch his, the blood coursed hotly through his veins. 
His head and the wound began to ache violently, and now 
and then he shivered. He felt that the fever was gaining 
on him, as it had once before, when he had nearly lost his 
life in the red sickness, but he was ashamed to confess it, 
and held out against it. 

When the sun was getting low the captain came out into 
the garden. He had already seen Joshua, and, although 
he was sincerely glad to meet his trusted friend once more, 
he had been ill pleased and uneasy that, before all else, he 
had made warm inquiry for his daughter. He did not 


JOSHUA . 


27 


conceal this from Kasana, but the glare of his eyes 
revealed the dissatisfaction with which he greeted her from 
the Hebrew. Then he turned to Ephraim, and told him 
that Joshua with his host had halted outside the city by 
reason of the plague. They were to pitch their tents with- 
out its precincts, between Tanis and the sea. They must 
presently go forth to the camp, and his uncle sent him 
word that he was to seek him there in his tent. 

When he saw the lad helping his daughter to wind the 
funeral wreaths he smiled, exclaiming : “ Only this morn- 
ing this young lordling longed to be free and a ruler all 
his life, and now he has entered your service, Kasana. 
Nay, do not blush, my young friend. And if either your 
mistress or your uncle can prevail upon you to become 
one of us, and devote yourself to the noblest toil — that of 
warrior — it will be well for you. Look at me ! For more 
than forty years have I wielded the bow, and to this day 
I rejoice in my calling. I have to obey, to be sure, but I 
have also to command, and the thousands that do my 
bidding are not sheep and beasts, but brave men. Con- 
sider the matter once more. He would make a splendid 
chief of the bowmen ; what do you say, Kasana?” 

“ Certainly,” replied the lady, and she had it in her 
mind to say more, but beyond the garden walk the measured 
tread of approaching troops fell on the ear. The bright 
blood mounted to her cheeks, her eyes glowed with a 
flame which startled Ephraim, and, heedless of her father 
or her guest, she flew past the pool, across the avenues and 
flower beds, and up a turf-bank near the wall, to gaze with 
eager eyes out into the road and on the armed host that 
presently came past. 

Joshua marched at its head in full armor. He turned 
his grave face as he came by the captain’s garden, and 
when he saw Kasana he lowered his battle-axe in friendly 
greeting. Ephraim had followed with the captain, who 
had pointed out Joshua, and said : “ A bright weapon like 
that would well become you, too, and when the drum is 
beating and pipe squeaking, while the standards ride 
high overhead, a man marches as lightly as though he had 
wings. To-day the martial music is silenced by reason of 
the dreadful grief that the malignant Hebrew has brought 
upon us. Joshua, indeed, is of his race ; yet, little as I can 
overlook that fact, I must confess that he is a thorough 


28 


JOSHUA . 


soldier and a model for the younger generation. Only tell 
him what I think of him in this respect. Now, bid fare- 
well at once to Kasana, and follow the troops ; the little 
side gate in the wall is open.” 

As he spoke he turned to go back into the house, and 
Ephraim held out his hand to bid the young woman fare- 
well. She gave him hers, but instantly withdrew it, saying : 
“ How hot your hands. You are in a fever ! ” 

“ Nay, nay,” murmured the boy ; but even as he spoke 
he dropped on his knees, and a cloud came over the suffer- 
ing lad’s soul, hunted as it had been from one emotion to 
another. 

Kasana was startled, but she at once recovered her pre- 
sence of mind and proceeded to cool his brow and the top 
of his head with water out of the adjacent pool. And as 
she did so she looked anxiously in his face, and never had 
his likeness to Joshua struck her so vividly. Yes, the man 
she loved must have exactly resembled this youth when he 
himself was a boy. Her heart beat faster, and as she sup- 
ported his head in her hands she softly kissed him. 

She thought he was unconscious, but the refreshing 
moisture had recovered him from his brief swoon, and he 
felt the touch with a sweet thrill, but kept his eyes shut, 
and would have lain thus for a lifetime, with his head on 
her bosom, in the hope that her lips might once more meet 
his. Instead of kissing him again she called loudly for help. 
At this he roused himself, gave one more passionate, fervid 
look into her face, and before she could stop him, fled like 
a strong man to the garden door, pushed it open and was 
gone after the host. He caught up the rear, soon over- 
took the others, and at last, finding himself by the captain’s 
side, he called to his uncle and announced himself by name. 
At this Joshua, in joy and surprise, held out his arms ; but 
almost before Ephraim could fall upon his neck he again 
lost consciousness, and strong soldiers carried the lad into 
the tent which the quarter-master had already pitched on 
a sandhill by the lake. 


JOSHUA. 


29 


CHAPTER V. 

It was midnight. A fire burned before Joshua’s tent and 
he sat alone beside it, gazing sadly and thoughtfully first 
into the flames and then out into the distance. The lad 
Ephraim was lying inside the tent on his uncle’s camp 
bed. 

The leech who accompanied the troops had dressed the 
youth’s wound, and having given him a strengthening 
draught bade him remain quiet, for he was alarmed at the 
high fever that had fallen on him. 

But Ephraim found not the rest the physician had ad- 
vised. The image of Kasana now rose before his imagin- 
ation and added fire to his already overheated blood. 
Then his thoughts flew to the advice that he should become 
a warrior like his uncle ; and it seemed to him reasonable, 
because it promised him glory and honor, as he would 
fain persuade himself, though in truth he desired to follow 
it because it would bring him nearer to her whom his soul 
longed for. 

Then again his pride rebelled when he thought of the 
insult with which she and her father had branded those ^o 
whom he belonged by blood and sympathy. He clinched 
his fist as he remembered the ruined house of his grand- 
father, whom he had always considered the worthiest of 
men. Nor had he forgotten his message. Miriam had 
said it over to him several times, and his clear memory 
held it word for word ; also at intervals he had repeated 
it over to himself as he wandered on the lonely way to 
Tanis. Now he endeavored to do so again, but before 
he could get to the end, his mind carried him back to 
thoughts of Kasana. The doctor had ordered Joshua to 
forbid any talking, so when the patient tried to deliver 
his message he bade him be silent. Then the soldier 
smoothed his pillow as gently as a mother might, gave him 
his medicine, and kissed him on the brow. 

At last he sat down by the fire in front of the tent, and 
only rose to give the youth a drink when the stars showed 
him that an hour had passed. 


3 ° 


JOSHUA . 


The flames lighted up Joshua’s somewhat dark features, 
and showed them to be those of a man who had faced 
many dangers, and had vanquished them by stern perse- 
verance and prudent forethought. His black eyes wore 
a domineering expression, and his full, tightly-closed 
mouth gave evidence of a hot temper, but even more of 
the iron will of a determined man. His broad-shouldered 
frame leaned against a sheaf of spears set crossing each 
other in the ground, and when he drew his powerful hand 
through his thick black hair, or stroked his dark beard 
while his eyes lighted up with wrath, it was plain that his 
soul was seething, and that he stood on the threshold of 
some great resolve. 

As yet the lion rests, but when he springs up his enemies 
must beware. 

His soldiers had often compared their bold, strong- 
willed leader, with his mane-like hair, to the king of beasts ; 
and now as he shook his fist, and at the same time the 
muscles of his brown arm swelled as though they would 
burst the gold bands that surrounded them, bright flames 
flashed from his eyes and he was an unapproachable and 
awesome presence. 

Out there in the west, whither he turned his gaze, lay 
the city of the dead and the ruined strangers’ quarters. A 
few hours before, he had led his troops past his father’s 
dismantled house and on through the deserted town, round 
which the ravens were flying. 

In silence, for he was still on duty, he had passed it by, 
and it was not until they had halted, that quarters might 
be found for his troops, that he learned the events of the 
past night from Hornecht, the captain of the archers. 
He had listened in silence and without moving a muscle 
or asking one word of further information, and meanwhile 
the soldiers had pitched their tents ; but scarcely had he 
gone to rest when a lame girl, in spite of the threats of the 
watch, forced her way in and besought him, in the name 
of Eliab, one of the oldest slaves of his house, whose 
granddaughter she was, to go with her to the old man. He 
had been left behind, as feebleness and ill-health prevented 
his wandering, and directly after the departure of his 
people he and his wife had been brought on an ass to the 
little cottage by the harbor which had been given to the 
old servant by his generous master. 


JOSHUA. 


31 


The girl, too, had been left to look after the infirm 
couple, and now the heart of the old slave was longing to 
see once more the first-born of his lord, whom as a child 
he had carried in his arms. He had bidden the girl tell 
the captain that his father had promised that he, Joshua, 
would leave the Egyptians and follow his people. The 
people of Ephraim, yea, the whole race, had heard the 
news with great rejoicing. The grandfather would give 
him more news, for she herself had been nearly out of her 
mind with trouble and anxiety. He would deserve the 
richest blessings if he would only go with her. 

The warrior perceived from the first that he must fulfil 
this wish, but he had postponed the visit to the old man 
until the next morning. The messenger, though in haste, 
managed to inform him of several things that she had seen 
or heard of from others. 

At last she was gone. He made up the fire, and as 
long as the flames blazed brightly he looked with a dark 
and thoughtful gaze toward the west. It was not till they 
had consumed the fuel, whose flame flickered feeble and 
blue over the charred wood, that he fixed his eyes on the 
embers and the flying sparks, and the longer he did so the 
deeper and more insurmountable did he feel the discord 
in his soul, which only yesterday had been set on a single 
glorious man. 

For a year and a half he had been' far from home fighting 
against Libyan rebels, and for fully ten months he had not 
heard a word from his people. A few weeks since he had 
been ordered home ; his heart beat with joy and hopeful- 
ness, and he, a man of thirty, had felt a boy again as he 
drew nearer and nearer to Tanis, the city of Rameses, 
famed for its obelisks. 

In a few hours he would once more behold his beloved 
and worthy father, who had only after deep consideration 
and discussion with his mother — now long since departed 
in peace — allowed him to follow his own inclinations and 
devote himself to military service and Pharaoh’s army. 
This very day he had hoped to surprise him with the news 
that he had been promoted above other and older captains 
of Egyptian race. 

The neglect which Nun had feared for his son had, 
through the power of his presence, his valor, and, as he 
modestly added, his good luck, been turned to advance- 


32 


JOSHUA. 


ment ; and yet he had not ceased to be a Hebrew. When 
he had felt the need of acknowledging a god with sacrifice 
and prayer, he had worshiped Set, into whose sanctuary 
his own father had led him as a child, and whom, at that 
time, all the Semitic race in Goshen had worshiped. For 
him, however, there was another god, and this was not the 
God of his fathers, but the god who was confessed by all 
those Egyptians who had received initiation, though he 
remained hidden from the common people, who were not 
able to comprehend him. It was not only the adepts that 
knew him, but also most of those who were placed in the 
service of the state and in the army — whether they were 
ministers of the divinity or not. Every one, however, 
knew what was meant when they spoke simply of “ The 
God,” the “Sum of All,” the “ Creator of Himself,” or of 
the “ Great One.” Hymns praised him, epitaphs which 
every one could read spoke of him, the only god, who 
revealed himself in the world, who was co-existent and 
co-equal with the universe, immanent in all creation, not 
merely as life exists in the body of man, but as being him- 
self the sum total of created things, the universe itself in 
its perennial growth, decay and resurrection, himself 
obeying the laws he had laid down. His essence, dwelling 
in every part of himself, dwelt likewise in man ; and, look 
where he might, a mortal could perceive the presence and 
action of the One. Without him nothing could be con- 
ceived of, and thus he was one — like the God of his fathers. 
Without him nothing could come into being nor any event 
happen on earth. Thus, like the God of Israel, he was 
almighty. Joshua had long been wont to think of these 
gods as essentially the same, and differing only in name. 
He who worshiped the one he deemed was the servant of 
the other ; and so the captain of the host could, with a 
clear conscience, have stood before his parent and have 
told him that he had been as faithful to the God of his 
people as he had been, as a warrior, in the service of the 
king. 

And there was something else which had made his heart 
beat faster and more gladly as he saw from afar the pylons 
and obelisks of Tanis, for in his endless marches across 
the silent desert and in many a lonely camp-tent the image 
had haunted his vision of a maiden of his own people, 
whom he had first known as a strange child stirred by 


JOSHUA. 


33 


wondrous thoughts, and whom he had seen again as a 
woman grown, unapproachable in her dignity and severe 
beauty, not long before he had last led his host to the 
Libyan war. She had come from Succoth to Tanis to his 
mother’s burial ; her image had been deeply stamped on 
his heart, and his — he dared to hope — on hers. She had 
now become a prophetess, hearing the voice of God. While 
other daughters of Israel were strictly secluded, she had 
asserted her freedom, even among men and in spite of her 
hatred for the Egyptians, and for his place among them, 
she had not concealed from Joshua that to part from him 
was grief, and that she would never cease to think of him, 
His wife, when he should wed, must be as strong and grave 
as himself, and Miriam was both, and cast another and 
brighter image, of which he once had loved to dream, 
quite into the shade. 

He was fond of children, and a sweeter child than 
Kasana he had never seen, either in Egypt or in distant 
lands. The sympathy with which this fair daughter of his 
comrade-in-arms had watched his achievements and his 
fortunes, and the modest, tender affection which the much- 
courted young widow had since shown him, had brought 
him much joy in times of peace. Before her marriage he 
had thought of her as growing up to be his wife ; but her 
union with another and her father’s repeated declarations 
that he would never give his daughter to wife to a foreigner, 
had wounded his pride and cooled his ardor. Then he 
had met Miriam, and she had inspired him with a fervent 
desire to call her his own. And yet, though as he marched 
homeward the thought of seeing Kasana once more had 
been pleasing to him, he was well content that he no longer 
wished to marry her, for it must have led to much vexation. 
The Egyptians and Hebrews alike deemed it an abomina- 
tion to eat at each other’s table, or to use the same seats 
or knives, and though as a fellow soldier he was accepted 
as one of themselves, and had often heard the young 
widow’s father speak kindly of his people, still “ the 
strangers ” were hateful in the sight of Hornecht and his 
household. 

In Miriam he had found the noblest helpmate. Would 
that Kasana might make another happy. Henceforth she 
could be no more to him than a delightful child, from whom 
we look for nothing but the pleasure of her sweet presence* 

2 


34 


JOSHUA. 


He had learned to ask nothing of her beyond a glad smile, 
always at his service. Of Miriam he demanded herself, 
in all her lofty beauty, for he had long enough endured 
the loneliness of a camp life, and now that no mother's 
arms were open to the home-comer, he felt the emptiness 
of his single state. He longed once more to feel glad in 
times of peace, when he laid down his arms after perils 
and privations of every kind. It was his duty to take a 
wife home to dwell under his father’s roof, and to provide 
that the noble race of which he was the only male 
descendant should not die out. Ephraim was only his 
sister’s son. 

His heart uplifted with such glad thoughts as these, he 
had come back to Tanis, and had almost reached the goal 
of his hopes and wishes, when behold ! there lay before 
him, as it were, a field of corn destroyed by hail and swarms 
of locusts. 

And, as though in mockery, fate brought him first to what 
had been the home of his fathers. Where the house had 
once stood in which he had grown up, and for which his 
heart had longed, there lay a dust-heap of ruins. Where 
those near and dear to him had proudly watched him depart, 
beggars were searching for booty in the rubbish. 

Kasana’s father was the first to hold out a hand to him 
in Tanis, and instead of a glance of kindly welcome he had 
from him nothing but a tale of woe that had cut him to the 
heart. He had dreamed of fetching home a wife, and the 
house in which she should have been mistress was level with 
the earth. The father whose blessing he craved, and who 
was to have rejoiced over his promotion, was by this time 
far away, and the foe henceforth of the sovereign to whom 
he himself owed his elevation. 

It had been a proud thought that, in spite of his birth, 
he had risen to power and dignity, and that now, as the 
leader of a great army, he might indeed show of what great 
deeds he was capable. There was no lack of schemes in 
his fertile brain, plans which, if they had been ratified by 
the authorities, might have led to good issues ; and now 
he was in a position to carry them out at his own pleasure, 
and he himself the motive power instead of the tool. All 
this had roused a delightful exultation in his breast, and 
had lent wings to his feet on the homeward march ; and 
now, when he had reached the longed-for goal, was to turn 


JOSHUA . 


35 


back, to become the comrade of shepherds and masons ? 
By birth, indeed, he belonged to them (and how hard a 
fortune did that at this moment seem), though there was 
no denying that they were now as alien to him as the 
Libyans against whom he had taken the field. On almost 
every point for which he cared he had nothing whatever in 
common with them. To his father's question as to whether 
he had returned still a Hebrew, he had believed he might 
truly answer, yes ; but now he felt that it would be against 
his will, a less than half-hearted adhesion. 

His soul clung to the standards under which he had 
marched to battle, and which he now might himself lead to 
victory. Was it possible to tear himself from them, and 
forfeit all he had won by his own merit? But had he not 
heard from the grandchild of his old slave, Eliab, that his 
people expected him to quit the army and follow them ? 
A messenger must ere long arrive from his father — and 
among the Hebrews a son might not resist a parent’s com- 
mand. 

Yet there was another to whom he owed strict obedience 
— Pharaoh, to whom he had sworn that he would serve him 
faithfully and follow his call without hesitation or reflection 
through fire and water, by night or day. How many a 
time had he stigmatized a soldier who should go over to 
the foe or rebel against the orders of his chief as a wretch 
devoid of honor, and many a one who had deserted from 
his standard had perished shamefully on the gallows under 
his own eye. And should he now commit the crime for 
which he had scorned others or done them to death. He 
was known for his swift decisiveness throughout the army, 
for even in the greatest straits he could arrive at the right 
determination and reduce it to action ; but in this dark and 
lonely hour he seemed to himself as a bending reed, as 
helpless as a deserted orphan. 

A gnawing rage against himself possessed him wholly, 
and when he presently thrust his spearhead into the fire, so 
that the glowing brands fell in and the sparks danced 
brightly up into the night, it was fury at his own vacillating 
mini that spurred his hand. 

If tiie events of the past night had called him to the 
manly task of revenge, all hesitation and doubt would have 
vanished, and his father’s call would have determined him to 
act; but who had here been the victims of ill-usage? Be- 


3 $ 


JOSHUA . 


yond doubt the Egyptians, who had been bereft by Moses’ 
curse of thousands of precious lives, while his people had 
escaped their vengeance by flight. To find the home of 
his fathers destroyed by the Egyptians had, indeed, roused 
his wrath; but he saw no just cause for a bloody revenge 
when he reflected on the unutterable woe which had come 
upon Pharaoh and his subjects through the Hebrews. 

No. He had no revenge to take ; he could only look 
upon himself as one who sees his father and mother in 
danger of their lives, and knows that he cannot save both, 
but if he risks his own life to rescue one the other must 
certainly perish. If he obeyed the call of his people honor 
was lost — that honor which he had kept as bright as the 
brass of his helmet — and with it all he most hoped for 
in life ; if he remained faithful to Pharaoh he was betray- 
ing his own blood, his father’s curse would darken the light 
of all his days, and he must renounce all his fairest dreams 
for the future ; for Miriam was a true daughter of her race, 
and woe to him if her lofty soul could hate as bitterly as it 
could fervently love. 

Her image rose before his mind’s eye, tall and beautiful, 
but with a dark look and warning mien, as he sat gazing 
across the dying fire out into the night ; and his manly 
pride surged up, and it seemed to him a mean thing to. 
throw away everything that is dear to the warrior’s heart 
for fear of a woman’s wrath and blame. 

“ No, no,” he murmured to himself, and the scale which 
held duty, and love, and filial obedience, and the ties of 
blood, suddenly kicked the beam. He was what he was 
— the captain of ten thousand in the king’s army„ He had 
sworn allegiance to him and to none other. His people ! 
Let them run away if they chose from the Egyptians’ yoke ! 
He, Joshua, scorned flight. Bondage had lain heavy on 
him ; but as for him, the mightiest in the land had treated 
him as their equal and held him worthy of honor. To 
repay their goodwill with treason and desertion went 
against him, and with a deep sigh he started to his feet, 
feeling as though he had chosen rightly. A woman and a 
weak desire for love to fill his heart should never lead him 
to be false to grave duty and the highest aims of his exist- 
ence. 

“ I remain,” cried a loud voice in his breast. “ My 
father is wise and kind, and when he hears my reasons he 


JOSHUA . 


37 


will approve them, and instead of cursing he will bless me. 

I will write to him, and the boy that Miriam sent to me 
3hall be my messenger.” 

A cry from the tent made him start ; looking at the stars 
he found he had neglected his duty toward the sick youth, 
and went quickly to his bedside. 

Ephraim was sitting up expecting him, and cried to him : 
“ I have been wanting you a long time. So much has 
passed through my mind, and, above all, the message from 
Miriam. Till I have delivered it I shall not find any rest, 
so hear me now.” 

Joshua nodded to him, and after the youth had taken the 
healing draught that he handed him, be began : 

“Miriam, the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, sends 
greeting to the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim. Joshua, 
or the Helper, is thy name, and the Lord thy God hath 
chosen thee to be the helper of his people. And hence- 
forth thou shalt be called Joshua,* the Holpen of Jehovah. 
For the God of her fathers, who is the God of thy fathers 
also, hath spoken by Miriam, His handmaid, commanding 
thee to be the shield and sword of thy people. In Him is 
all power, and His promise is to strengthen thine arm that 
He may smite the enemy.” 

The lad began in a low tone, but his voice gradually grew 
stronger, and the last words rang out loud and solemn in 
the silence of the night. 

Thus had Miriam spoken to him, and had laid her hands 
on his head and looked earnestly into his eyes with her 
own, which were as black as the night, and as Ephraim 
repeated them he had felt as though some secret power 
compelled him to cry them aloud to Joshua, as he had heard 
them from the mouth of the prophetess. Then he breathed 
a sigh of relief, turned his face to the white canvas wall of 
the tent, and said quietly : 

“ Now I will sleep.” 

But Joshua laid his hand on his shoulder and said in 
commanding tones : “ Say it again.” 

The lad did his bidding, but this time he repeated the 
words unheedingly and in a low tone to himself. Then he 
said imploringly : “ Leave me to rest,” put his hand under 
his cheek and shut his eyes. 


More correctly Jehoshua. 


38 


JOSHUA . 


Joshua let him have his own way. He gently laid a fresh 
wet bandage over his burning head, put out the light and 
cast more logs on the dying fire outside ; but the keen, 
resolute man did it all as in a dream. At last he sat down, 
resting his elbows on his knees and his head on his hand, 
with his eyes fixed on vacancy or gazing at the flames. 

Who was this God who called him through Miriam to be, 
by His aid, the sword and shield of his people. 

He was to bear a new name, and to the Egyptians the 
name was the man. “ Honor to the name of Pharaoh ! ” 
not “ to Pharaoh,” was written in every inscription and 
document; and if henceforth he was to be called Joshua, 
this involved a command to cast the old man off and to 
become a new man. This, which Miriam had declared to 
him as the will of the God of his fathers, was nothing less 
than a bidding to cease to be an Egyptian, as his life had 
made him, and become a Hebrew again, as he had been as 
a boy. 

How could he learn to act and feel as a Hebrew ? 

And Miriam’s message required him to go back to his 
own tribe. The God of his nation, through her, bid him 
to do what his father expected of him. Instead of the 
Egyptian host, which he must make haste to forget, hence- 
forth he should lead the sons of Israel when they went 
forth to battle ; this was the meaning of her words ; and 
when that high-souled maiden and prophetess declared that 
it was God Himself who spoke by her mouth, it was no 
vain boast; she was certainly obeying the voice of the 
Most High. And now the image of the woman whom he 
had dared to love appeared to him as unapproachably 
sublime ; many things which he had heard in his childhood 
of the God of Abraham and His promises, recurred to his 
mind ; and the scale which till now had been the heavier 
gradually rose. What had but just now seemed firmly 
settled was no longer sure, and once more he stood face to 
face with the fearful abyss which he fancied he had over- 
leaped. 

How loud and mighty was the call he had heard ! The 
sound in his ears disturbed his clearness and peace of 
mind. Instead of calmly weighing the matter as he had 
done before, memories of his boyhood, which he had fancied 
long since buried, lifted up their voices, and disconnected 
flashes of thought confused his brain. 


JOSHUA. 


39 


Sometimes he felt prompted to turn m prayer to the God 
who called him, but as often as he made the attempt he 
remembered the oath he must break, and the vast host he 
must leave behind him to become the leader, no more of 
a well-trained, brave, obedient troop of brothers in arms, 
but of a miserable horde of cowardly serfs, and wild, 
obstinate shepherds accustomed to the rule of oppression. 

It was three hours past midnight. The men on guard 
had been relieved, and he began to think of giving himself 
a few hours’ rest. He would think the matter out again 
by daylight with his wonted rational decisiveness, which 
now he felt he could not attain to. But as he entered the 
tent, and Ephraim’s steady breathing fell on his ear, in 
fancy he heard again the lad’s solemn delivery of his mes- 
sage. It startled him, and he was about to repeat the 
words to himself when he heard a tumult among the out- 
posts, and a vehement dispute broke the stillness of the 
night. 

The interruption was welcome. He hurried out to 
where the guards were posted. 


CHAPTER VI. 

Hoglah, the granddaughter of the old slave Eliab, had 
come to entreat Joshua to go with her forthwith to see her 
grandfather, whose strength had suddenly failed him, and 
who, feeling death near at hand, could not die without 
seeing him and blessing him once more. So the captain 
bade her wait, and after assuring himself that Ephraim 
slept peacefully, he charged a man he could trust to keep 
watch over the lad, and went with Hoglah. 

As she led the way she carried a small lantern, and when 
the light fell on the girl’s face and figure, he saw how ill- 
favored she was, for slave’s toil had bent the poor child’s 
back before its time. Her voice had the rough tones 
which a woman’s tongue often acquires when her strength 
is too unsparingly taxed ; but all she said was loving and 
kind. Joshua forgot her appearance as she told him that 
she had a lover among the men who had gone forth, but 
that she had remained behind with her grandparents, for 
she could not bring herself to leave the old folks alone ; 


40 


JOSHUA. 


that as she was not fair to look upon, no man had coveted 
her as his wife till Asser had come, and he did not look to 
appearances, because he was hardworking, as she herself 
was, and had expected that she would help to save his 
earnings. He would have been willing to stay behind with 
her, but his father had commanded him to set out with 
him ; so he had no choice, but must obey and part from 
her forever. 

The tale was simply told, and in a harsh accent, but it 
struck to the heart of the man who, for his part, meant to 
go his own way in opposition to his father. 

As they presently came in sight of the harbor, and 
Joshua looked down on the quays and the huge fortified 
storehouses, built by the hands of his own people, he 
thought once more of the gangs of ragged laborers whom 
he had so often seen cringing before the Egyptian overseer, 
or, again, fighting madly among themselves. He had 
marked, too, that they did not hesitate to lie and cheat in 
order to escape their toil, and how hard it was to compel 
them to obey and do their duty ! 

The more odious objects among these hapless hundreds 
rose clearly before his mind ; and the thought that perhaps 
his fate in the future might be to lead such a Wretched 
crew came over him as a disgrace which the humblest of 
his subalterns, the captain of fifty, would fain be spared. 
There were, of course, among the mercenaries of Pharaoh’s 
armies many Hebrews who had won a reputation for 
courage and endurance, but they were all the sons of 
owners of herds, or of men who had been shepherds. The 
toiling multitudes whose clay hovels could be overturned 
with a kick formed the greater mass of those to whom he 
was bidden to return. 

Firmly resolved to remain faithful to the oath which 
bound him to the standard of the Egyptian host, and yet 
stirred to the depths of his soul, he entered the slave’s hut, 
and his vexation was increased when he found the old 
man sitting up and mixing some wine and water with his 
own hand. So he had been brought away from his 
nephew’s bedside on a false pretense, and deprived of his 
own night’s rest that a slave, who, in his eyes, was scarcely 
a man at all, should have his way. Here he himself was 
the victim of a trick of that cunning selfishness which, in the 
Egyptians’ eyes, was the reproach of his people, and which, 


JOSHUA . 


41 


indeed, did not attract him to them. But the wrath of the 
clear-sighted and upright man was soon appeased as he 
saw the girl’s unfeigned delight at her grandfather’s rapid 
recovery ; and he then learned from the aged wife that 
Hoglah had hardly set out on her quest when they remem- 
bered that they had some wine in the house, and after the 
first draught her husband got better and better, though she 
had before thought he had one foot already in the grave. 
Now he was mixing some more of the blessed gift to 
strengthen himself with a draught of it every now and 
then. 

Here the old man himself broke in, and said that he 
owed this and much that was better to the goodness of 
Nun, Joshua’s father ; for besides this hut and wine and 
meal for bread, he had given him a milch cow and likewise 
an ass, on which he could ride out and take the air, and he 
had left him his granddaughter and some silver, so that he 
could look forward with contentment to their end, all the 
more so as they had a patch of land behind the house, 
which Hoglah would sow with radishes, onions and leeks 
for their pottage. But best of all was the written deed 
which made them and the girl free forever. Aye, Nun was 
a true lord and father to his people ; and his good gifts 
had brought with them the blessing of the Most High, for 
immediately after the departure of the Hebrews, by the 
help of Asser, Hoglah’s betrothed, he and his wife had 
been conveyed hither without any demur or difficulty. 

“ We old folks,” the old woman added, “ will die here. 
But Asser has promised Hoglah to come back for her when 
she has done her duty to her parents to the very last.” 
And turning to the girl she said in an encouraging tone : 
“ And it cannot be for much longer now.” 

At this Hoglah began to wipe her eyes with the skirt of 
her blue gown, and cried : “ Long, long may it be ! I 
am young. I can wait.” 

Joshua heard these woras, and it seemed to him as 
though the poor, ill-favored, deserted girl was giving him 
a lesson. 

He had let the old folks talk on, but his time was 
precious, and he now asked whether it was for any special 
cause that Eliab had sent for him. 

“ I could not help sending,” was the answer, “ and not 
only to ease the longing of my old heart, but because my 
lord Nun had bidden me to do so. 


42 


JOSHUA. 


“ Great and noble is thy manhood, and now art thou 
become the hope of Israel ! Thy father, too, hath promised 
the men and women of his house that after his death thou 
shalt be their lord and their head. His speech was full of 
thy glory, and great was the rejoicing when he declared 
that thou wouldst follow the departing tribes. And I am 
he whom my lord vouchsafed to command that, if thou 
shouldst return before his messenger could reach thee, I 
was to say that Nun, thy father, awaited his son. By 
sunrise, or at latest by midday, thy people shall stay to 
rest by Succoth. He would hide a writing in the hollow 
sycamore before the house of Aminadab, which should tell 
thee whither next they take their way. His blessing and 
the blessing of our God be with thee in the way ! ” 

As the old man pronounced the last words Joshua bent 
his head, as though an invisible hand were inviting him to 
kneel. Then he thanked the old man, and asked in a 
subdued voice whether all had been willing to obey the call 
to quit house and home. 

The old woman clasped her hands, exclaiming: “ No, 
no, my lord ; by no means. What a wailing and weeping 
there was before they departed ! Many rebelled, others 
escaped or sought some hole or corner in which to hide. 
But in vain. In the house of our neighbor, Deuel — you 
know him — his young wife had been lately brought to bed 
with a boy, her first-born. How could the poor creature 
set forth to wander? At first she wept bitterly, and her 
husband blasphemed ; but there was no help for it. She 
and her infant were laid in a cart, and as things went for- 
ward they got over it, he and she both, like all the rest ; 
even Phineas, who crept into a pigeon-house with his wife 
and five children, and even old crippled Graveyard Keziah 
— you remember her, Adonai — she had seen her father and 
mother die, her husband, and then five well-grown sons ; 
everything the Lord had given her to love, and had laid 
them one after another in our graveyard ; and every 
morning and evening she would go to the resting place, 
and as she sat there on a log of wood which she had 
rolled close to the tombstone her lips would always be 
moving ; but what she muttered was not prayer ; no — I 
have listened to her many a time when she did not heed 
me — no ; she talked with the dead as if they could hear her 
in the tomb, and could understand her speech like those 


JOSHUA . 


43 


who live in the light of the sun. She is nigh upon three- 
score years old, and for three times seven years she has 
been known to the folk about as Graveyard Keziah. It 
was a senseless way she had, but for that very reason 
perhaps it was doubly hard to her to give it up ; and she 
would not go, but hid away behind the shrubs. When 
Abiezer, the head of the house, dragged her forth, her 
wailing was enough to make your heart ache. But when 
it came to the last she plucked up courage and could not 
bear to stay behind any more than the rest.” 

“ What had come over the poor wretches ? What 
possessed them ? ” Joshua here broke in, interrupting the 
old woman’s flow of words ; for his fancy again pictured 
the people that he ought to, nay, that he must, lead, as 
surely as he held his father’s blessing of price above al/ 
else; and he saw them in all their misery. The old 
woman started, and, fearing lest she might have angered 
the first-born son of her master, this proud and lordly 
warrior, she stammered out : 

“ What possessed them, my lord ? Aye, well — I am but 
a poor, simple slave-woman ; but indeed, my lord, if you 
had but seen them also ” 

“ Well, what then ? ” cried the soldier roughly and 
impatiently ; for now, for the first time in his life, he found 
himself compelled to act against his inclinations and con- 
victions. 

At this the old man tried to come to his wife’s rescue, 
saying timidly : 

“Nay, my lord, tongue cannot tell of it nor the under- 
standing conceive of it. It came upon Israel from the 
Lord, and even if I could describe how mightily He 
worked in the souls of the people ” 

“ Try,” said Joshua, “ but my time is short. Then they 
were forced to depart? It was against their will that they 
took up their staff? That they have followed Moses and 
Aaron for some time past, as sheep follow the shepherd, is 
known even to the Egyptians. And have those men, who 
brought down the pestilence on so many innocent beings, 
worked a miracle to blind the eyes of you and your wife 
here ? ” 

The old man lifted supplicating hands to the warrior, 
and replied, much troubled, in a tone of humble entreaty : 
“ Oh, my lord, you are the first-born son of my master, the 


44 


JOSHUA. 


greatest and noblest of his house, and if you will you can 
tread me in the dust like a beetle ; and yet will I lift up my 
voice and say to you they have told you falsely. You have 
been among strangers all this year, while mighty signs have 
been wrought upon us. You were far from Zoan* as I 
have heard when the people went forth. For any son of 
our race who had beheld this thing would sooner that his 
tongue should wither in his mouth than laugh to scorn the 
mighty things which the Lord has vouchsafed to us to 
behold. If you had patience, indeed, and could grant me 
to tell the story ” 

“ Speak,” cried Joshua, amazed at the old man’s fervor ; 
and Eliab thanked him with a glowing look, and cried : 

“Ah ! would that Aaron, or Eleazar, or my lord Nun, 
your father, were here ; or that the Most High would 
grant me the gift of their speech ! But as it is, well. 
And, indeed, meseems as though I saw and heard it all, 
as though it were all happening again ; and yet how may I 
tell it ? But by God’s help I will try.” 

He paused, and as Joshua saw that the old man’s lips 
and hands trembled, he himself reached him the cup, and 
the old man thankfully emptied it to the bottom. Then 
he began with half-closed eyes, and his Wrinkled features 
grew more keenly eager as he proceeded with his tale : 

“What befell after that it became known what command 
had come to the people my wife has already told you ; 
and we, too, were among those who lost heart and mur- 
mured. But last night we all who were of the house of 
Nun were bidden to the feast — even the shepherds and 
the slaves and the poor — and there we ate of roast lamb 
and fresh unleavened bread, and had plenty of wine, more 
than usual at the harvest festival which begins on that 
night, and which you yourself have often witnessed as a 
boy. There we sat and enjoyed ourselves, and my lord, 
your father, spoke words of encouragement and told us of 
the God of our fathers and of the great things He had 
done for his people. Now, said he, it was the Lord’s will 
that we should set forth and depart out of this land, where 
we have borne contempt and bondage. This was no such 
sacrifice as that for which Abraham had sharpened his 
knife to shed the blood of his son Isaac withal, at the bid- 


The Hebrew name for Tanis. 


JOSHUA, 


45 


ding of the Most High, although it would fall hardly on 
us to leave a home grown dear to us, and many an old 
custom. Nay, it would at last bring much happiness on 
us all. For, cried he, we were not to wander forth into 
the unknown, but toward a lordly land which God himself 
had set before us. He had promised us a new home 
instead of this land of bondage, where we should dwell as 
free men on fruitful meadows, and fine rich pastures where 
a man and his household might be fed and their hearts 
made glad. Just as a man must work hard to earn his 
wage, so were we to endure a brief space of privation and 
sorrow to earn that beautiful new home for ourselves and 
our children, as the Lord had promised. A land of God 
it must surely be, since it was the gift of the Most High. 

“ Thus he spoke, and thus he blessed us all ; and pro- 
mised that you, too, would shake the dust from off your 
feet and join yourself to the people, and fight for them with 
a strong arm. as an experienced warrior and an obedient 
son. 

“ Hereupon we all shouted for joy, and when we were 
all gathered in the market-place and found that all the 
bondsmen had been able to escape from the overseers our 
courage rose. Then came Aaron into our midst and stood 
upon the sale , man’s bench, and all that my lord Nun had 
spoken at the feast we now heard from his lips, and the 
words he spoke sounded now like rolling thunder and now 
like the sweet tones of the lute ; and we all knew that it 
was the Lord our God who spoke by him, for he touched 
the hearts even of the rebellious, so that they murmured 
and complained no more. And when at last he proclaimed 
to the multitude that no erring man, but the Lord God 
Himself, would be our Captain ; when he described the 
beauty of the promised land, whose gates he would open 
before us, and where we should dwell as free and happy 
men, released from all bondage, owing no obedience to any 
but to the God of our fathers and those whom we may 
choose For our leaders, it was as though every man there 
was drunk with new wine, and as if the way that lay be- 
fore them, instead of a barren track across the desert into 
the unknown, led to a great feast spread for them by 
the Most High Himself. Nay, and even those who had 
not heard Aaron’s words were likewise filled with marvel- 
ous confidence, and men and women were all more cheer- 


4 6 


JOSHUA . 


ful and noisy than their wont at the harvest feast, for all 
hearts overflowed with pure thankfulness. It even seized 
the old folks. Old Elishama, the father of Nun, who is an 
hundred years old, and, as you know, has long sat bent and 
silent in his seat, rose up with a light in his eyes and spoke 
fiery words. The spirit of the Lord had come upon him 
as upon us all. 

“ I felt myself quite young again in body and soul ; and 
as I passed by the carts which were made ready for their 
departing I saw Elisheba with her babe in a litter, and she 
looked as happy as on the day of her marriage, and pressed 
her infant to her heart and blessed his lot in growing up in 
the promised land and free. And her husband, Deuel, who 
had blasphemed the loudest, swung his staff and kissed his 
wife and child with tears of joy in his eyes, and shouted 
for joy like a vintager at the pressing, when jars and wine 
skins are too small to hold the blessing. The old woman, 
too, Graveyard Keziah, who had torn herself away from 
the tombs of her race, sat with other feeble folk in a char- 
iot, and waved her veil and joined in the hymn of praise 
which Elkanah and Abiasaph, the sons of Korah, had 
begun. And thus they set forth. We who were left 
behind fell into each other’s arms, and knew not whether 
the tears we shed flowed from our eyes for grief or for 
overjoy at seeing the multitude of those we loved so glad 
and full of hope. Thus it came to pass. 

“ Such torches were carried in front of the multitude, 
seeming to light it up more brightly than the great blaze of 
lamps which the Egyptians light up at the gates of the 
temple to Neith ; and it was not till they were swallowed up 
in the darkness that we set forth, so as not to keep Asser too 
long behind the rest. As we made our way through the 
night, the streets were full of the mourning cry of the citi- 
zens, but we sang softly the hymn of the sons of Korah, 
and great joy and peace fell upon us, for we knew that the 
Lord our God would keep and lead His people.” 

Here the old man ceased, but his wife and the girl, who 
had hearkened to him with eager eyes, drew closer to each 
other, and without any word between them they both 
together began the hymn of praise, and the old woman’s 
thin voice mingled with pathetic fervor with the harsh 
tones of the girl, ennobled as they were with lofty enthu- 
siasm. 


JOSHUA . 


47 


Joshua felt that it would be wicked to break in on this 
overflow of full hearts, but the old man presently bade 
them cease and looked up at his master’s first-born son 
with anxious inquiry in his grave features. 

Had Joshua understood? 

Had he made it plain to this warrior who served Pha- 
raoh how that the Lord God Himself had ruled the souls 
of His people at their departing ? 

Was he so fallen away from his own nation and their 
God, so led away by the Egyptians, that he would dare 
to defy the wishes and commands of his own father ? 

Was he, in whom they had set the highest hopes, a 
deserter and lost to his own people ? 

To these questions he might have no answer in words ; 
but when Joshua took his horny old hand between his 
own, and shook it as that of a friend when he bade him 
farewell, his eyes glistening with moisture, and murmured, 
“ You shall hear of me ! ” he felt that this was enough, and 
overcome by vehement joy he kissed the soldier’s arm and 
clothing again and again. 


CHAPTER VII. 

Joshua returned to his tent with a bowed head. The 
discord in his soul was resolved. He knew now what 
burthen he must take up. His father called him and he 
must obey. 

And the God of his people ! As he listened to the 
old man’s tale all he had heard of that God in his 
childhood now reawakened in his soul, and he knew now 
that He was another than Set, the god of the Asiatics 
in lower Egypt; another than the “One,” the “Sum 
of All,” of the adepts. The prayer he had been wont 
to say on going to rest, the story of the Creation which he 
had never been weary of hearing, because it so plainly 
showed how everything which existed in heaven and on 
earth had gradually come into being till man came to take 
possession of it and to enjoy it all ; the history of father 
Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob, Esau and his own forefather 
Joseph — how gladly had he hearkened to all this as it was 
told him by the gentle mother who had borne him, by his 


48 


JOSHUA. 


nurse, and his grandfather Elishama ; and yet he seemed 
long since to have forgotten it. But under his old slave’s 
humble roof he could have repeated the tale word for word, 
and he now knew of a surety that there was indeed one God, 
invisible, almighty, who had chosen Israel to be His own 
people, and had promised to make them a great nation. 
That which the Egyptian priesthood kept secret as the 
greatest mystery was the common possession of his people ; 
every beggar, every slave, might lift his hands in prayer 
to the one invisible God who had revealed Himself to 
Abraham and promised him great things. Over-wise 
heads among the Egyptians, who had divined His exist- 
tence, had overlaid His essence with the monstrous births 
of their own imaginings and their own thoughts, and had 
shrouded Him in a thick veil, and hidden Him from the 
multitude. It was only among His chosen people that He 
lived and shewed forth His power in its mighty and awful 
greatness. 

This God was not nature, though the initiated in the 
temples confounded them ; no, the God of his fathers was 
enthroned on high, above all created things and the visible 
universe, above man, His last and most perfect work, 
created in His own image ; and all creatures were subject 
to His will. He, the King of Kings, ruled all that had life 
with just severity ; and although He hid himself from the 
sight of man who was His image, and was beyond man’s 
apprehension, yet was He a living, thinking, and active 
Being even as men were, save that His term of life was 
eternity, His mind was omniscience, His realm was 
infinity. 

And this God had instituted Himself the leader of His 
people. There was no captain who could dare to defy 
His power. If Miriam were not deceived by the Spirit of 
prophecy, and if He had indeed called Joshua to be His 
sword, how could he resist, or what higher place could he 
fill on earth ? 

And His people ; the rabble crowd of whom he had 
thought with scorn, how transfigured they seemed by the 
power of the Most High now that he had heard old Eliab’s 
tale ! Now he only longed to lead them ; and on his way 
back to the camp he stayed his steps on a sandy knoll, from 
whence he could see the limitless waters gleaming under 
the lamps of heaven, and for the first time for many 


JOSHUA 4 g 

long years uplifted his arms and eyes to the God whom he 
had found again. 

He began with a simple prayer which his mother had 
taught him ; but then he cried to the Lord as to a mighty 
counselor, and besought Him with fervent entreaty to show 
him the way in which he should walk without being 
disobedient to his father, or breaking the oath he had 
sworn to the king, or becoming a traitor in the eyes of 
those to whom he owed so much. 

“ Thy people glorify Thee as the God of truth, punish- 
ing those who break their oath ! ” he cried. “ How canst 
Thou bid me to be faithless and to be false to the pledge 
I have given ? All I am or can do is Thine, O Lord, and 
I am ready to give my blood and my life for my brethren. 
But rather than cast me into dishonor and perjury let me 
die, and give the task Thou hast chosen me, Thy servant, 
to do, to a free man bound by no oath ! ” 

Thus he prayed, and he felt as though he clasped in his 
arms a friend whom he had accounted as lost. Then he 
walked on in silence through the diminishing darkness, and, 
as the grey dawn stole up, the high tide of passion ebbed 
in his soul, and the clear-headed warrior could think 
calmly. 

He had vowed to do nothing against the will of his 
father or his God ; but he was no less resolved never to 
be a traitor and oath-breaker. What he had to do he now 
saw plainly and clearly. He must quit Pharaoh’s service, 
and declare before the face of his superiors that, as a duti- 
ful son, he must obey the commandments of his father, and 
go forth to share his fortunes and the fortunes of his 
people. 

But he did not conceal from himself that his demand 
might be refused ; that he might be kept back by force ; 
and perhaps, if he persisted unmoved in his resolve, be 
threatened with death, or, if it came to the worst, be hand- 
ed over to the executioner. But even if this should be his 
doom, if his deed cost him his life, he would have done 
what was right, and his comrades in arms, whose esteem 
was dear to him, would still think of him as their worthy 
mate ; his father and Miriam would not be wroth with him ; 
nay, but would mourn for the faithful son, the true man 
who preferred death to treason. 

Calm and elevated in spirit, he gave the watchword to 
the sentry with proud composure, and went into his tent. 

4 


50 


JOSHUA . 


Ephraim still lay sleeping and smiling as though wrapped 
in sweet dreams. Joshua lay down on a mat near him 
to seek strength for the hard day before him. His eyes 
soon closed, and after sleeping an hour he awoke of his 
own accord and called for his handsomest raiment, his hel- 
met and gilt armor which he was wont to wear only at 
high festivals or in the king’s presence. 

Meanwhile Ephraim, too, awoke, gazed at his uncle from 
head to foot with delighted curiosity as he stood before 
him in stalwart manliness and shining warlike splendor, 
and cried as he started up : 

“ It must be a fine thing to be dressed like that and feel 
oneself the leader of thousands.” 

The elder man shrugged his shoulders and replied : 

“ Obey the Lord thy God, and give no man, whether 
great or small, the right to regard you with anything but 
respect, and then you may carry your head as high as the 
proudest hero in his purple robe and gilt breast-plate.” 

“ But you have done great things among the Egyptians,” 
the lad went on. “They hold you in high esteem — even 
Hornecht the great captain, and his daughter Kasana.” 

“ Do they ? ” said the warrior with a smile ; and he bid 
his nephew to lie down and keep quiet ; for his brow, 
though less burning than it had been the night before, was 
still very hot. 

“ Do not go out of doors,” Joshua added, “ till the leech 
has been to see you, and await my return.” 

“ And will you be long away ? ” asked the boy. 

At this Joshua paused in thought, looked kindly in his 
face and then gravely replied : 

“The man who serves a master never knows how long 
he may be detained.” Then, changing his tone, he added 
less emphatically : “ To-day, this morning, I may perhaps 

get through my business quickly and return in a few 
hours. If it should not be so, if I should not be with you 
by this evening, or early to-morrow morning, then,” and he 
laid his hand on the boy’s shoulder, “ then make your way 
home as fast as you can. If when you reach Succoth the 
people have gone on before you, look in the hollow syca- 
more before the house of Aminadab and you will find a 
letter which will tell you whither they have gone ; and 
when you come up with them greet my father and my 
grandfather Elishama, and likewise Miriam, and tell them 


JOSHUA . 


51 


and all the people that Joshua will ever be mindful of the 
commands of God and of his father. Henceforth he will be 
called Joshua by all men — Joshua and not Hosea. Tell 
this to Miriam first of all. Finally, say to them that if I 
stay behind, if I am not allowed to follow them as I fain 
would do, it is that the Most High hath dealt otherwise 
with me, and hath broken the sword which He had chosen 
before He had used it. Do you understand me, boy ? ” 

And Ephraim bowed his head and said : “You mean 
that death alone can keep you from obeying the call of 
God and your father’s commands ? ” 

“ That was my meaning,” replied his uncle. “ And if 
they ask you why I have not stolen away from Pharaoh 
and escaped from his power, answer that Joshua would 
fain enter on his office as a true man unstained by perjury, 
or, if it be God’s will, to die true. Now rehearse the mes- 
sage.” 

Ephraim obeyed, and his uncle’s words must have sunk 
deep into his soul, for he neither forgot nor altered a single 
word ; but he had no sooner ended his task of repetition 
than he seized Joshua’s hand with vehement urgency, and 
implored him to tell him whether he had indeed any fear 
for his life. 

At this the warrior clasped him in a loving embrace, and 
assured him that he hoped that he had given him this mes- 
sage only to be forgotten. 

“ Perhaps,” he added, “ they may try to keep me by 
force ; but by God’s help I shall soon be back with you 
again, and we will ride forth together to Succoth.” 

He turned and went out without heeding his nephew’s 
questions, for he heard the sound of wheels without, and 
two chariots with five horses came rapidly up to the tent 
and stopped in front of the entrance. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

Joshua was well acquainted with the men who stepped out 
of the chariots ; they were the head chamberlain and one 
of the king’s chief scribes, and they had come to bid him 
to the High Gate, as the palace of the Pharaohs was called. 
No hesitancy or escape was possible, and he got into the 


5 * 


JOSHUA. 


second chariot with the scribe, surprised indeed but not 
uneasy. Both officials wore mourning robes, and instead 
of a white ostrich plume, the insignia of office, a black 
plume fixed on the brow. The horses, too, and the runners 
were decked with badges of the deepest woe ; and yet the 
king’s messenger seemed to be cheerful rather than 
dejected, for the noble bird which they were charged to 
bring into Pharaoh’s presence had come out at their call : 
and they had feared to find the nest deserted. 

The long-limbed bays of royal breed carried the light 
vehicles with the swiftness of the wind across the uneven 
sandy way and the smooth high road beyond, towards the 
palace. 

Ephraim with youthful inquisitiveness had gone out of 
the tent to see the unwonted scene that met his eyes. The 
soldiers were well pleased that Pharaoh should have sent 
his own chariots to fetch their captain, and he even felt 
his vanity flattered when he saw his uncle drive away. 
But he had not long the pleasure of watching him, for 
thick clouds of dust soon hid the chariots from view. 

The hot desert wind had risen which so often blows in 
the Nile-valley during the spring months, and whereas all 
night and in the morning the sky had been clearly blue, it 
was now not clouded but veiled, as it were, with white 
haze. 

The sun looked down, a motionless globe, like a blind 
eye above the heads of men, and the fierce heat it shed 
seemed to have burnt up its beams which to-day were 
invisible. The eye protected by the mist could look up 
at it unhurt, and yet its scorching power was as great as 
ever. The light breeze which commonly fanned the brow 
in the early part of the day touched it now like the hot 
breath of a raging beast of prey. It was loaded with the 
fine scorching sand of the desert, and the pleasure of 
breathing was turned to torture. The usually fragrant air 
of a March-day in Egypt was now an oppression both to 
man and beast, choking their lungs and seeming indeed to 
weigh on the whole frame and check its joy in life. 

The higher the pale and rayless orb rose in the sky, the 
denser grew the mist, the heavier and swifter rolled the 
sand clouds from the desert. 

Ephraim still stood in front of the tent gazing at the 
spot where Pharaoh’s chariots had vanished in the dust. 


JOSHUA. 


53 


His knees shook, but he attributed this to the wind sent 
by Set-Typhon, at whose blowing even the strongest was 
aware of a weight about his feet. 

Joshua was gone, but he might return in a few hours, 
and then he would be compelled to follow him to Succoth. 
There the fair dreams and hopes which yesterday had 
brought him, and whose bewitching charms his fever had 
enhanced, would be lost to him for ever. 

In the course of the night he had quite made up his 
mind to enter Pharaoh’s army, to the end that he might 
remain near Tanis and Ivasana ; but although he had not 
more than half understood Joshua’s message, he could 
clearly infer that he meant to turn his back on Egypt and 
his high office, and that he counted on taking him, 
Ephraim, with him, unless meanwhile he could make good 
his escape. So then he must give up his desire to see 
Kasana once more. But this thought was more than he 
could endure, and a voice within whispered to him that he 
had neither father nor mother, and was free to act as he 
choose. His guardian, the brother of his deceased father, 
in whose house he had been brought up, had died not long 
since of an illness, and no new guardian had been 
appointed to him, as he was now past childhood. He 
was destined by-and-bye to become one of the chiefs of his 
proud tribe, and until yesterday he had never wished for 
anything better. 

When, yesterday, he had rejected the priest’s challenge 
to become a warrior under Pharaoh, with the pride of a 
shepherd-prince, he had followed the impulse of his heart ; 
but now he said to himself that he had been foolish and 
childish to reject a thing of which he knew nothing, which 
had always and intentionally been represented to him in a 
ialse and hideous light in order to attach him more closely 
to his own people. The Egyptians, he had always been 
told, were his enemies and oppressors ; and how delight- 
ful, on the contrary, had everything seemed in the first 
house of an Egyptian warrior which he had happened to 
enter. 

And Kasana ! What would she think of him if he 
quitted Tanis without a word of greeting or leave-taking? 
Would it not be a perpetual vexation and regret to him 
that he must dwell in her memory as a clumsy peasant 
shepherd ? Indeed, it would be actually dishonest not to 


54 


JOSHUA. 


restore the costly garments which she had lent him. Gra- 
titude was accounted among the Hebrews, too, as the 
holiest duty of a noble heart. He would be a hateful 
wretch all his life long if he did not go to see her once 
more. 

Only he must make haste, for when Joshua should 
return he must find him ready to set out. 

He began forthwith to strap the sandals on his feet, but 
he did it but slowly, and he could not understand what it 
was that made everything so difficult to him to-day. 

He crossed the camp unimpeded, the pylons and obel- 
isks in front of the temples showed him the way, though 
they seemed to quiver in the heated, sand-filled air, and he 
presently came out on the broad road which led to the 
town market-place. A panting Egyptian, whose ass was 
carrying wine-skins to the camp, directed him on his way. 

The path was deep in dust, and dust wrapped him as he 
went ; the sun overhead poured a flood of fire down on his 
bare head, and his wound again began to ache ; the sand 
filled his eyes and mouth and stung his face and bare limbs. 
He was overpowered by thirst, and more than once he was 
forced to stop for his feet felt strangely heavy. At last he 
reached a well, dug for wayfarers by a pious Egyptian, and 
although it was graced with the image of a god, and Miriam 
had taught him that it was an abomination to turn from the 
way to such images, he drank nevertheless, drank again and 
again, and thought he had never enjoyed such a refreshing 
draught. 

He got over his fear of losing his senses, as he had done 
yesterday, and though his feet still dragged he walked on 
briskly to the tempting goal. But presently his strength 
again failed him, the sweat streamed from his brow, there 
was a throbbing and hammering in the cut on his head, and 
he felt as if his skull was being crushed in an iron fillet. 
Now his usually keen sight was failing, for the things he 
tried to see seemed to float in dancing dust, the horizon 
rocked before his eyes ; and suddenly he felt as though the 
hard pavement had turned to a bog beneath his feet. Still, 
all this troubled him little, for his fancy had never glowed 
so brightly within him. The things he thought of rose 
before him with marvelous vividness. Image after image 
stood before the wide-opened eyes of his soul, and not at 
his bidding, but as if raised by a will outside himself. Now 


JOSHUA. 


55 


he beheld himself lying at Kasana’s feet, his head fondly 
laid on her lap while he gazed up into her lovely face — then 
it was Joshua who stood before him in splendid armor, as 
he had just now seen him, only more gorgeous, and in 
ruddy fire-light instead of the dim light in the tent. Then 
again all the finest oxen and rams of his herds passed in 
front of him ; and mingling with all these, sentences of the 
message he had learned passed though his mind, nay, he 
fancied that they were being shouted in his ears ; but before 
he could be quite sure of their meaning some new and 
dazzling vision, or a loud, rushing sound filled his mind’s 
eye and ear. 

And on he went tottering like one drunk, with the sweat 
standing on his brow and a parched mouth. Now and 
then he mechanically lifted his hand to wipe the dust from 
his burning eyes, but he cared little that they failed to shew 
him clearly what was passing around him, for nothing could 
be more delightful than what he beheld when he looked 
within. Every now and then, to be sure, he was conscious 
of acute suffering, and he felt inclined to fling himself on 
the ground in sheer exhaustion, but then again a strange 
sense of relief kept him up. At last the delirium was 
too much for him ; his head seemed growing and swelling 
till it was as large as the head of the colossus he had seen 
yesterday in front of a temple ; then it rose to the height 
of the palm-trees by the road side, and at last it reached 
the mist over the firmament, and higher and higher yet. 
Then this head, which was still his head, was as wide as 
the horizon, and he pressed his hands to his temples and 
held his brow, for his neck and shoulders were too weak 
to bear the burthen of so huge a head, till, possessed with 
this madness, he shrieked aloud, his knees gave way, and 
he sank senseless in the dust. 


CHAPTER IX. 

At this same hour a chamberlain was leading Joshua into 
the hall of audience. 

Though subjects bidden to attend the king commonly 
had hours to wait, the Hebrew’s patience was put to no 
severe test. At this time of deep mourning the spacious 


56 


yosmjA. 


rooms of the palace, in which a gay and noisy throng were 
wont to move, were as still as the grave ; for not the slaves 
and sentries only,' but many persons of superior rank in 
immediate attendance on the royal pair, had fled from the 
pestilence and escaped without leave. 

Here and there a solitary priest or official leaned against 
a pillar or cowered on the ground, hiding his face in his 
hands, while awaiting some command. Soldiers went 
about trailing their arms and in silent brooding. Now and 
then a few young priests in mourning robes stole through 
the deserted rooms, and speechlessly swung the silver cen- 
sers, which shed a pungent perfume of resin and junipers. 

It was as though a terrible incubus weighed on the 
palace and its inhabitants ; for, added to the loss of the 
king’s beloved son, which came home to many hearts, the 
fear of death and the desert-wind had crushed the energies 
of mind and body alike. 

Here, under the shadow of the throne, where of yore all 
eyes had glittered with hope, ambition, gratitude or fear, 
devotion or hatred, Joshua saw to-day only bowed heads 
and downcast looks. 

Baie, alone, the second prophet of Amon, seemed un- 
touched by sorrow, or the terrors of the night, or the 
enervating influences of the day ; he greeted the captain 
in the ante-chamber as frankly and cheerfully as ever, and 
assured him, though in an undertone, that no one dreamed 
of calling him to account for the sins of his people. But 
when the Hebrew, of his own free will, acknowledged that 
at the moment when he was sent for by the king he was 
in the act of going to the superior captains of the army 
to beseech them to release him from his service, the priest 
interrupted him to remind him of the debt of gratitude 
which he, Baie, owed to him. And he declared that, for 
his part, he would do his utmost to keep him with the 
army, and to prove to him that an Egyptian knew how to 
honor faithful service without respect of persons or consi- 
derations of birth, nay, even against Pharaoh’s will ; and 
of this he would presently speak with him in secret. 

But the Hebrew had no time to reiterate his purpose, 
for the head chamberlain interrupted them to lead Joshua 
into the presence of the “ kind god.” * 


An euphemistic title of the Pharaohs, 


JOSHUA . 


57 


Pharaoh awaited him in the smaller reception hall, 
adjoining the royal apartments. It was a noble room, and 
looked more spacious to-day than when, as usual, it was 
filled with a crowd. Only a few courtiers and priests, with 
some of the queen’s ladies, formed a small group, all in 
deep mourning, round the throne ; opposite the king, 
squatting in a circle on the ground, were the king’s coun- 
cillors and scribes, wearing each his ostrich plume. 

All wore badges of mourning, and the monotonous 
chant of the wailing women, broken now and then by a 
loud, shrill, tremulous outcry, came pealing out from the 
inner rooms and found its way to the great hall, a token 
that death had claimed a victim even in the palace. 

The king and queen sat on a couch under a canopy of 
black ; the throne itself was of ivory and gold. Instead 
of their splendid state attire they were Ciad in dark robes, 
and the royal wife and mother, who bewailed her first-born, 
leaned motionless and with downcast head against her 
husband’s shoulder. 

Pharaoh, too, kept his eyes fixed on the ground, as if 
lost in a dream. The sceptre had fallen from his hand 
and lay in his lap. 

The queen had been torn from the corpse of her son, 
which was now given over to the embalmers, and it was 
not till she entered the audience hall that she Had been 
able to control her tears. But she had not tnought of 
resistance, for the unrelenting ceremonial of court life 
made the queen’s presence indispensable at any audience 
of high importance. And to-day of all days she certainly 
would fain have escaped, but that Pharaoh had command- 
ed her to appear. She knew what counsel was to be 
taken, and approved of it beforehand ; for she was wholly 
possessed by her dread of the power of Mesu the Hebrew, 
called by his own people Moses, and of his God, who had 
brought such terrors on Egypt. Alas ! for she had other 
children to lose, and she had known Mesu from his child- 
hood, and knew in what high esteem the learning of this 
stranger had been held by the great Rameses, her hus- 
band’s father and predecessor, who had brought him up 
with his own sons. 

Oh, if it were but possible to make terms with this man ! 
But Mesu had departed with his people ; and she knew 
his iron will, and that the terrible foe was armed not alone* 


58 JOSHUA, 

against Pharaoh’s threats but even against her passionate 
supplications. 

Now she would meet Joshua; and he, the son of Nun, 
and the most noble of the Hebrews of Tanis, could succeed, 
if any man could, in carrying out such measures as she and 
her husband might think best for all parties, in concert 
with Ruie, the venerable high priest and chief prophet of 
Amon, the pontiff of all priesthood of Egypt, who com- 
bined in his own person the dignities of chief judge, treas- 
urer and viceroy of the realm, and who had come with the 
court from Thebes to Tanis. 

When she had been sent for to the audience chamber she 
was winding a garland for the beloved dead, and lotos 
flowers, larkspurs, mallow and willow leaves were handed 
to her as she required them. They lay before her now on 
a table and in her lap, but she felt paralyzed, and her 
hand, as she put it forth, refused its service. 

Ruie, the chief prophet of Amon, sat on his heels on a 
mat to the left of the king ; he was a very old man, long 
past his ninetieth year. A pair of shrewd eyes, shaded by 
a pent-house of thick white eyebrows, looked out of his 
brown face, which was as gnarled and wrinkled as a bark 
of a rugged oak, like bright flowers from withered foliage, 
and their brilliarfcy was startling in such a shrunken, hud- 
dled, stooping figure. 

This old man had long since left all active conduct of 
affairs to the second prophet, Baie, but he clung stoutly to 
his dignities, to his place at Pharaoh’s side, and his seat in 
the council; and rarely as he spoke, his opinion more 
often carried the day than that of the eloquent, fiery and 
much younger second prophet. 

Since the pestilence had invaded the palace the old man- 
had not quitted Pharaoh’s side, yet he felt more alive than 
usual to-day, for the desert wind, which made others lan- 
guish, revived him. He was wont to shiver continually 
in spite of the panther skin whidh covered his back and 
shoulders, and the heat of the day warmed his sluggish old 
blood. 

The Hebrew Mesu had been his pupil, and never had 
he had the guidance of a grander nature or the teaching 
of a youth more richly graced with all the gifts of the 
spirit. He had initiated the Hebrew into all the highest 
mysteries, and had expected the greatest results for Egypt 


JOSHUA . 


59 


and the priesthood ; and when Mesu had one day slain an 
overseer who was unmercifully flogging one of his fellow 
Hebrews, and had fled into the desert, Ruie had bewailed 
the rash deed as deeply as if his own son had committed 
it and was to suffer the consequences. His intercession 
had procured Mesu’s pardon, but when Mesu had returned 
to Egypt, and that change had been wrought in him which 
his friends in the temple called his apostasy, he had caused 
his old master a keener grief than by his flight. If Ruie 
had been younger he would have hated the man who had 
cheated his dearest hopes ; but the old priest, to whom 
the human heart was as an open book, and whose sober 
impartiality enabled him to put himself in the place of his 
fellow-man, confessed to himself that it was his own fault 
that he had failed to foresee this falling away. Education 
and dogma had made of Mesu, the Hebrew, an Egyptian 
priest after his own heart and pleasing to the divinity, but 
when once he had raised his hand to defend one of his own 
race against those to whom he had been allied only by 
human agencies, he was lost to the Egyptians. He was 
henceforth a true son of his people ; and whithersoever this 
high-minded and strong-willed man might lead, others 
must inevitably follow. 

Aye, and the high priest knew full well what it was that 
the apostate hoped to give to his people ; he had confessed 
to Ruie himself that it was the faith in One God. Mesu 
had denied that he was guilty of perjury, and had pledged 
himself never to betray the mysteries to his people, but 
only to lead them back to the God whom their forefathers 
had served before Joseph and his kindred had ever come 
into Egypt. The One God of the initiated was, no doubt, 
in many respects like the God of the Hebrews, and that 
was precisely what had reassured the ancient sage ; for he 
knew by experience that the common folk would not be 
content with a god, one and invisible, such as many of the 
more advanced of his own disciples found it difficult to 
conceive of. The men and women of the masses required 
sensible images of everything of which they perceived the 
effects in and about them, and this need the religion of the 
Egyptians gratified. What comfort could a love-lorn maid 
find in an invisible and creative Power governing the 
course of the universe ? She would be drawn to the gentle 
Hathor, who held in her beneficent grasp the cords which 


6o 


JOSHUA . 


bind heart to heart, the fair and powerful goddess of pro- 
creation before whom she could pour forth in full confi- 
dence all that weighed on her soul. Or a mother who 
longed to snatch a darling child from death — how could 
her small sorrows concern the incomprehensible and 
almighty Being who ruled the whole world? But Isis, the 
gracious mother, who herself had wept in such deep 
anguish, she could understand her grief ! And how often 
in Egypt it was the wife who influenced her husband’s 
attitude to the gods ! 

And the high priest had frequently seen Hebrew men 
and women worshipping devoutly in the sanctuaries of 
Egypt. Even if Mesu should succeed in persuading them 
to acknowledge One God, he, the experienced old man, 
foresaw with certainty that they would ere long turn away 
from the invisible Spirit who must ever remain remote and 
unreal to their apprehension, and flock back in hundreds 
to the gods they could understand. 

Now, Egypt was threatened with the loss of the husband- 
men and brickmakers she so greatly needed. Still Ruie 
believed he could lure them back. 

“ When kind words will do the work let sword and bow 
lie idle,” he had said to his deputy, Baie, who had urged 
' that the fugitives should be pursued and slain. “ We have 
more corpses than enough already ; what we lack are 
workers. Let us try to keep our hold on what we are so 
likely to lose.” 

And this milder counsel had been quite after the heart 
of Pharaoh, who had had enough of lamentation, and who 
would have thought it less rash to go unarmed into a lion’s 
cage than to defy the terrible Hebrew any further. 

So he had turned a deaf ear to the incitements of the 
second prophet, whose decisive and energetic nature had 
an influence all the more powerful as his own was irre- 
solute, and had approved old Ruie’s proposal that Joshua, 
the man of war, should be sent to his people, to treat with 
them in Pharaoh’s name — a plan which had calmed his 
fears and inspired him with new hopes. 

Baie himself had at last agreed to this suggestion. It 
gave him a further chance of undermining the throne he 
hoped to overthrow ; and if once the Hebrews were re- 
established in the land, Prince Siptah, in whose eyes no 
punishment was too severe for the Hebrews, who hated 


JOSHUA. 


61 


him, might very probably seize the sceptre of the cowardly 
Menephtah. But first the fugitives must be stopped, and 
for this Joshua was the right man. No one, Baie thought, 
was better fitted to win the confidence of an unsuspicious 
soldier than Pharaoh himself and his royal wife. 

The old high priest was on this point of the same 
opinion, although he had nothing to do with the conspiracy ; 
and thus the sovereigns had determined to interrupt the 
lamentations for the dead and themselves speak with the 
Hebrew. 

Joshua fell on his face before their feet, and when he 
rose the king’s weary face was bent on him, sadly indeed, 
but gracionsly. 

The father who had lost his first-born son had, according 
to custom, sacrificed his hair and beard to the razor. 
They had formerly framed his face in glossy black, but near 
twenty years of anxious rule had turned them grey, and 
his figure had lost its upright bearing and had a languid, 
senile stoop, though he was scarcely past fifty. His regular 
features were still handsome, and there was something 
pathetic in their melancholy softness, evidently incapable 
of any severe tension, especially when a smile lent be- 
witching charm to his mouth. The indolent deliberate- 
ness of his movements scarcely detracted from the natural 
dignity of his person, though his voice, which was agree- 
able, generally had an exhausted and plaintive sound. He 
was not born to rule ; thirteen brothers, older than he, 
had died before the heirship to the throne had devolved 
upon him, and he, meanwhile, as the handsomest youth in 
all the land, the darling of the women and a light-hearted 
favorite of fortune, had lived a life of unbroken enjoyment 
till he had almost arrived at manhood. Then he had 
succeeded his father, Rameses the Great ; and hardly had 
he grasped the sceptre when the Libyans, with strong 
allies, had rebelled against his rule. The veteran troops 
and their captains, schooled in his father’s wars, helped 
him to conquer. But in the twenty years which had now 
elapsed since his father’s death his armies had rarely had 
any rest, for rebellions had constantly to be quelled, now 
in the East and now in the West ; and instead of dwelling 
in Thebes, where he had spent many happy years, and 
living in the most gorgeous of palaces, as he would fain 
have done, enjoying the blessings of peace and the society 


62 


JOSHUA . 


of the illustrious students and poets who were at that time 
to be found there, he was forced sometimes to lead his 
armies into the field, and sometimes to reside at Tanis. 
Thus only could he settle the difficulties that disturbed the 
border province, and in this he yielded willingly to the coun- 
sels of Ruie. In the later years of his father’s reign the 
national sanctuary at Thebes, and, consequently, its high 
priest, had attained greater wealth and power than the 
royal family, and it suited Menephtah’s indolent nature to 
be an instrument rather than a master, so long as he 
abdicated none of the external honors due to Pharaoh. 
These he guarded with a resolute care which he was inca- 
pable of exerting when more serious matters. demanded it. 

The gracious condescension with which the king received 
him gratified Joshua, and at the same time roused his 
suspicions. However, he had the courage to declare 
freely that he desired to be released from his office and 
from the oath he had taken to his sovereign lord. 

Pharaoh listened unmoved, and it was not till the soldier 
had confessed that his father’s commands had moved him 
to take this step that Pharaoh signed to the high priest, 
who then spoke in scarcely audible tones : 

“ A son who sacrifices greatness that he may continue 
dut'ful to his father must be one of the most faithful of 
Pharaoh’s servants. Go then, do the bidding of Nun. The 
child of the sun, the lord of Upper and Lower Egypt, sets 
you free. But on one condition, which I, as the minister 
of his master, declare to you.” 

“ And what is that ? ” inquired Joshua. 

And again the king signed to the old priest ; then he 
sank back on the throne, while Ruie fixed his piercing eyes 
on Joshua and went on : 

“ That which the Lord of both worlds requires of you by 
my mouth is easy to fulfill. You must return, to be his 
servant and one of us again, as soon as your people and 
their chief, who brought such woe on this land, shall have 
taken the hand of the divine son of the Sun which he vouch- 
safes to hold forth to them in pardon, and shall have come 
back under the shadow of his throne. He, of his divine 
mercy, is ready to attach them to him and to his land again 
with rich gifts, as soon as they come home from the desert, 
whither they are gone forth to sacrifice to their god. 
Mark me well ! All the oppressions which weighed on the 


JOSHUA. 


63 


people to whom you belong shall be lifted from them. The 
divine King will make a new law granting them much free- 
dom and many privileges, and all that we promise them 
shall be written down and witnessed on our part and on 
yours, as a new covenant binding on our children and our 
children’s children. Now when this shall have been done, 
with an honest purpose to abide by it forever on our part, 
and when your people shall have agreed to accept it, will 
you then consent to be one of us once more ? ” 

“ Take upon yourself the office of mediator,” the queen 
here broke in, in a low voice, and her sad eyes were fixed 
beseechingly on the Hebrew’s face. “ I quail before Mesu’s 
wrath, and all that may be done shall be done to win back 
his former friendship. Speak to him in my name, and re- 
mind him of the days when I, Isis Nefert, would learn of 
him the names of the plants I carried to him, and he taught 
me and my sister their uses or their poisonous powers when 
he came to see the queen, his second mother, in the 
women’s quarters. The wounds he has inflicted on our 
hearts shall be forgiven and forgotten. Be our ambassador, 
Joshua ; do not refuse our prayer ! ” 

“ Such words from such gracious lips are a command,” 
replied the warrior, “ and are sweet to the heart. I will be 
mediator.” 

At this the old high priest nodded approval, and said : 
“ Then I hope that the fruit of this short hour may be a 
long period of peace. But mark me. Where medicine 
may avail we avoid the knife and cautery ; where there is 
a bridge over the river a man does not rashly try to swim 
through the whirlpool.” 

“ Yes, verily, we will avoid the whirlpool,” said the king, 
and the queen repeated his words ; then she again fixed 
her eyes on the flowers in her lap. 

Then a formal council was held. 

Three private scribes sat down on the ground, close to 
the high priest, to enable them to hear his low tones, and 
the interpreters and counselors, in their places, took out 
their writing things, and, holding the papyrus in their left 
hands, wrote with reeds or brushes, for nothing might 
remain unrecorded which was discussed and decided in 
Pharaoh’s presence. Hardly a whisper was to be heard in 
the hall while this went on; the guards and courtiers 
remained motionless in their places, and the royal couple 


64 JOSHUA . 

sat rigid and speechless, gazing into vacancy, as if in a 
dream. 

Neither Pharaoh nor his wife could possibly have caught 
a word of the murmured colloquy of the speakers, but the 
Egyptians never ended a sentence without glancing up at 
the king, as if to make sure of his approval. Joshua, who 
was accustomed to the scene, followed their example, 
speaking like the others in a subdued voice, and when 
presently the voice of the second prophet, or of the chief 
interpreter, sounded rather louder, Pharaoh raised his head 
and repeated the high priest’s last saying : “ Where there 

is a bridge over the river a man does not try to swim the 
whirlpool,” for this exactly expressed his wishes and the 
queen’s. No fighting. Peace with the Hebrews, and res- 
pite from the wrath of their terrible leader and of his god, 
without losing the thousand diligent hands of the fugitive 
tribes. 

Thus matters proceeded, and when the muttering of the 
speakers and the scratching of the pens had gone on for 
fully an hour, the queen was still sitting in the same atti- 
tude ; but Pharaoh began to stir and raise his voice, for 
he knew that the second prophet hated the man whose 
blessing he had received and whose hostility filled him with 
such dread, and he feared but he should be requiring some 
impossible conditions of the envoy. 

Still, all he said was again a repetition of the counsel as 
to the bridge ; but his inquiring glance at the chief inter- 
preter moved that official to assure him that all was 
proceeding favorably. Joshua had merely demanded that 
the overseers, who kept guard over the men at work, should 
not, for the future, be watchmen of Libyan race, but He- 
brews themselves, to be chosen by the elders of their people 
under the sanction of the Egyptian government. 

At this Pharaoh cast his look of anxious entreaty at Baie 
and the other councillors. The second prophet only 
shrugged his shoulders regretfully, and, feigning to defer 
his own opinion to the divine wisdom of Pharaoh, conceded 
this point to Joshua. The god enthroned on earth acknow- 
ledged this submission with a grateful bow, for Baie’s will 
had often crossed his ; and then, when the herald or 
rehearser had read aloud all the clauses of the treaty, 
Joshua was required to take a solemn oath that he would 
in any case come back to Tanis and report how his people 
had received the king’s advances. 


JOSHUA. 


65 


But the cautious warrior, who was well aware of all the 
snares and traps with which the State was only too ready, 
took this oath most unwillingly, and only when he had 
obtained a written pledge that, whatever the issue, his free- 
dom should be in no way interfered with as soon as he 
could give them his word that he had done his part to in- 
duce the leader of his people to accept these terms. 

At last Pharaoh held out his hand for the captain to kiss, 
and when he had also pressed to his lips the hem of the 
queen’s robe, Ruie signed to the monarch, who understood 
that the moment was come when he should withdraw. 
And he did so with goodwill and a sense of encouragement, 
for he believed that he had acted for the best for his own 
welfare and that of his people. 

A bright radiance lighted up his handsome, languid 
features, and when the queen rose and saw him smile, con- 
tent, she did the same. At the door the king drew a 
breath of relief, and turning to his wife he said : “ If Joshua 
does his errand well we shall get across the bridge.” 

“ And not swim the whirlpool,” replied the queen in the 
same tone. 

“ And if the Hebrew captain can pacify Mesu,” Pharaoh 
went on, “ and he persuades his people to remain in the 
land ” 

“ Then you must adopt this Joshua into the royal family. 
He is well favored and of a lordly mien,” his wife broke 
in. 

But at this Pharaoh suddenly abandoned his stooping 
and indifferent attitude. 

“ Impossible ! ” he eagerly exclaimed. “ A Hebrew ! 
If we raise him to be one of the ‘friends,’ or a fanbearer, 
that is the highest he can hope for. In such matters it is 
very difficult to avoid doing too much or too little ! ” . 

As the royal couple went forward toward the private 
apartments the wailing of the mourners fell more loudly on 
the ear. Tears started afresh to the queen’s eyes, while 
Pharaoh continued to deliberate precisely what position in 
the court Joshua might be allowed to fill if he succeeded in 
his embassy. 


5 


66 


JOSHUA . 


CHAPTER X. 

Joshua had now to hasten if he was to overtake the 
Hebrews in time, for the further they had got on their way 
the more difficult it might be to persuade Moses and the 
heads of the tribes to return and accept the terms offered 
them. 

The events of this morning were to him so marvelous 
that he regarded the issue as a dispensation of the god he 
had found once more ; also he remembered the name of 
Joshua, that is to say, “holpen of the Lord, 5 ” which had 
been laid upon him by Miriam’s message, whereas he had 
hitherto been called Hosea. He was willing to bear it, 
although he felt it hard to deny the sovereign who had 
raised him to honor. Many of his fellow-warriors had 
assumed similar names, and his had proved itself nobly 
true. Never had the help of God been more clearly with 
him than it had been this day. He had gone into Pha- 
raoh’s palace in the expectation of losing his freedom or 
being handed over to the executioner as soon as he de- 
clared his wish to follow his people ; and how easily had 
the ties been severed which bound him to Egypt. And 
he had been charged with a task, in his eyes so great and 
noble, that he could not forbear believing that the God of 
his fathers had called him to fulfill it. 

He loved Egypt. It was a glorious land. Where could 
his people find a fairer dwelling place ? The conditions 
only under which they had dwelt there had been intoler- 
able. Better days were now before them. The Hebrews 
were to be permitted to return to Goshen or to settle in 
the lake-land west of the Nile, a district whose fertility was 
well known to him. No one hencefoith might compel 
them to serfdom, and if they laid their hands to labor for 
the State, Hebrews only were to be their taskmasters, and 
not the hard and cruel stranger. That his people must re- 
main subject to Pharaoh was a matter of course. Joseph, 
Ephraim and his sons, Joshua’s forefathers, had called 
themselves so, and had been well content to be regarded 


JOSHUA. 


67 


as Egyptians. If his embassy came to a good end, the 
elders of the tribes were to be allowed to rule the domestic 
affairs of the people. Moses must be the chief ruler in the 
new settlement, in spite of the second prophet’s objections, 
and he himself would be captain of the united force which 
should defend its frontiers, and form fresh legions of those 
Hebrew mercenaries who had already proved their valor 
in many wars. Before he left the palace the second 
prophet had given him several mysterious hints which had 
remained unsolved, but from which he inferred that Baie 
was big with portentous schemes, and proposed to give 
him some important charge as soon as the conduct of the 
State should fall from the hands of old Ruie into his own ; 
perhaps the chief captaincy of the whole army of mercen- 
aries, a post at present held by a Syrian named Aarsu. This 
disturbed rather than gratified him ; but on the other hand 
it was a great satisfaction to him to have made it a con- 
dition that the eastern frontier should, every third year, be 
thrown open to the Hebrews, that they might go forth to 
the desert to offer sacrifices to their God. On this Moses 
had insisted most strongly, for, as the law now stood, no 
one was permitted to cross the eastern limit line, which 
was fortified at all points, without the express consent of 
the authorities. This concession to their great leader’s 
desires might perhaps gain his assent to a treaty so favor- 
able to his people. 

All through these transactions Joshua had felt keenly 
how far he had been cut off from his tribe ; he could not 
even say what was the aim of this worship in the desert. 
He had frankly confessed before Pharaoh’s council that 
he knew nothing of the complaints or demands of the 
Hebrews, and he did so advisedly, reserving their right to 
alter and amplify the proposals of which he was the bearer. 
But what could the people or their chief hope for better ? 

The future lay before him full of hope for his nation and 
himself. If the covenant should be concluded the time 
would come for him to found a family, and the image of 
Miriam rose before him in all its lofty beauty. The 
thought of winning this noble woman was an intoxicating 
one ; and he asked himself whether he were indeed worthy 
of her, and if it were not too bold to sue for the possession 
of this superb inspired maiden and prophetess. 

He knew life well, and understood how little trust could 


68 


JOSHUA. 


be placed in the promises of the irresolute man for whose 
weak hand the sceptre was too heavy. But he had taken 
precautions, and if the elders of the people could only be 
pacified, the covenant, clause by clause, would be graven 
on metal tablets, like every other compact' between Egypt 
and a foreign nation, and hung up in the national temple 
at Thebes, signed by Pharaoh and by the representatives of 
his people. Such a document — as he had learnt from the 
treaty of peace concluded with the Kheta — secured and 
prolonged the brief “ forever ” of international compacts. 
He had omitted nothing that might protect the Hebrews 
against treason and faithlessness. 

Never had Joshua felt stronger, more confident, more 
glad of life, than when he once more stepped into Pharaoh’s 
chariot to take leave of his subalterns. Even Baie’s mys- 
terious hints and confessions did not disturb him, for he 
was wont to leave the cares of the future to the future day ; 
but in the camp a trouble awaited him which darkened 
the present hour, for he there heard to his surprise, wrath, 
and distress, that Ephraim had quitted the tent and stolen 
away, telling no man whither. His hasty questions 
elicited the fact that the lad had taken the road to Tanis, 
so Joshua charged his faithful shield-bearer to seek the boy 
out in the town, and if he found him to bid him follow his 
uncle to Succoth. 

Then, as soon as the captain had taken leave of his men, 
he set forth, followed by his old squire. 

It was a pleasure to him to see that the Adones* and 
other inferior officers who had served with him, hard 
warriors, with whom he had shared all he possessed in war 
and peace, in peril and privation, so frankly showed their 
grief at parting. The tears rolled down the brown cheeks 
of many a man grown grey in battle as he shook hands 
with him for the last time. Many a bearded lip was 
pressed to the hem of his garment, or his feet, and the 
shining coat of the Lybian charger which bore him through 
the ranks with arched neck and eager prancing, though 
firmly held in by his rider. His own eyes were moist for 
the first time since his mother’s death, as shouts of honest 
regret and farewell wishes broke from the manly hearts of 
his troops and echoed along the lines. Never had he felt 


•Answering to our adjutants. 


JOSHUA. 


69 


so deeply as at this moment. How closely his heart was 
knit to those men, and how precious to him was his noble 
calling. 

But the duty which lay before him was high and noble, 
too ; and the God who had released him from his oath and 
made his way plain to obey his father’s behest, and yet be 
true and faithful, would perhaps lead him back to his com- 
rades in arms, whose farewell he could fancy still rang in 
his ears when he was long since out of hearing. 

Still, the full glory of the work intrusted to him — the 
exalted frame of mind of a man who goes forth with a high 
moral purpose to fulfill — a difficult task — the perfect bliss of 
a lover who flies with well-grounded hopes to crown the 
purest and dearest wish of his heart — did not wholly 
possess him till he had left the town behind him and was 
hastening, at a brisk trot, across the level plain dotted with 
palm groves and pools that lay to the southeast. 

So long as he had kept his horse at a moderate pace 
along the streets of the town and about the harbor, his 
mind was so full of the immediate past and of anxiety for 
the missing youth that he had paid small heed to the scene 
around him ; the numerous vessels lying at anchor, the 
motley throng of ships’ captains, merchants, sailors and 
porters of the most diverse races of Africa and Western 
Asia, who here sought their fortunes, or the officials, soldiers 
and supplicants who had followed the court from Thebes 
to Tanis. 

And he had also failed to observe two men of higher 
rank, though one of them, Hornecht, the captain of the 
bowmen, had saluted him as he passed. They were 
standing back under the gateway of the temple of Set for 
shelter from a cloud of dust blown along the road by the 
wind from the desert. And as the archer vainly endea- 
vored to attract the rider’s attention, Baie, his companion, 
said to him : “ It matters not ; he will learn soon enough 
where his nephew has found refuge.” 

“By your command,” replied the soldier. Then he 
went on eagerly with what he had been saying : “ The lad 
looked like a lump of clay in the potters’ shed when he 
was brought in.” 

“ And no wonder,” interrupted the priest. “ He had 
been lying quite long enough in Typhon’s dust. But what 
did your steward want among the soldiers? ” 


70 


JOSHUA . 


<’ My Adon, whom I had sent out last evening, brought 
word that the poor lad was in a high fever, so Kasana 
packed up some wine and her nurse’s balsam, and the old 
woman went with them to the camp.” 

“To the boy or to the captain? ” asked the prophet, 
with a cunning smile. 

“ To the sick lad,” replied the soldier, decisively, with 
an ominous frown. But he checked himself and went on, 
apologetically : “ Her heart is as soft as wax, and the 
Hebrew boy — you saw him yesterday ” 

“A handsome fellow — quite after a woman’s heart,” 
laughed the priest. “ And stroking the nephew down 
cannot hurt the uncle.” 

“She can hardly have had that in her mind,” said Hor- 
necht sharply. “ And. the unembodied God of the Hebrews, 
it would seem, is no less mindful of his own than the 
immortals you serve, for when he led Hotepoo to the spot 
the boy was very nigh unto death. And the old man 
would have ridden past him, for the dust had alread) ” 

“ As you said, turned him into a lump of potter’s clay. 
But what then ? ” 

“ Then the old man saw something golden gleam in the 
grey mass.” 

“ And for gold the stiffest back will bend.” 

“Very true! So did my old man. The broad gold 
bracelet, glittering in the sun, saved the boy’s life once 
more.” 

u And the best of it is that we have got him alive.” 

“ Yes. I, too, was glad to see him open his eyes again. 
He quickly got better and better, and the leech says he is 
like a young cat and nothing will kill him. But he is in a high 
fever and talks all sorts of nonsense in his ravings, which 
even my daughter’s old nurse, a woman from Ascalon, does 
not understand. But she believes she can distinguish 
Kasana’s name.” 

“ A woman once more at the bottom of the mischief.” 

11 Cease jesting, reverend father,” replied the warrior, 
and he bit his lip. “ A decent widow and this downy- 
cheeked boy ! ” 

“ At his tender years,” the priest went on, in the same 
tone, “full-blown roses tempt young beetles more than 
buds do, and in this case,” he added, more gravely, 
“nothing could be more fortunate. We have Joshua’s 


JOSHUA . 


71 


nephew in our net, and now it is your part not to let him 
escape the toils.” 

“You mean,” cried the soldier, “ that we are to keep 
him a prisoner ? ” 

“ As you say.” 

“ But you esteem his uncle highly ? ” 

“ Certainly, but higher still the State.” 

“ But this lad ” 

“ He is a most welcome hostage. Joshua’s sword was an 
invaluable weapon; but if the hand that wields it is 
guided by that man whose power over greater men than 
he we know too well ” 

“ You mean Mesu, the Hebrew ? ” 

“ Joshua will wound us as deeply as heretofore our 
enemies.” 

“ But I heard you yourself say that he was incapable of 
treachery.” 

“ And I say so still ; and he has proved my words this 
very day. It was simply to procure his release from the 
oath of fealty that he this day put his head into the 
crocodile’s jaws. But if Joshua is a lion, in Mesu he will 
find his tamer. That man is Egypt’s arch foe, and my 
gall rises only to think of him.” 

“ The cries of woe within these gates are enough to 
keep our hatred alive.” 

“ And yet the feeble creature who fills the throne 
postpones revenge and sends forth a pacificator.” 

“ With your consent, I believe ? ” 

“ Quite true,” replied the priest, with a sardonic smile. 
“ We have sent him forth to build a bridge ! A bridge, for- 
sooth ! The dried-up wisdom of an ancient sage recommends 
it, and the notion is quite after the heart of that contemptible 
son of a great father, who, for his part, never shrunk from 
swimming the wildest whirlpool, specially when revenge 
was in view. Well, Joshua may try to build it. If the 
bridge over the torrent only brings him back to us, I will 
give him a warm and sincere welcome. But we, who 
alone have any spirit in Egypt, must make it our business 
to see that as soon as this one man has recrossed to our 
shore the piers shall give way under the tread of the leader 
of his nation.” 

“ Yes, yes. But I fear, that we should lose the captain, 
if his people met the fate they deserve.” 


72 


JOSHUA . 


“ It may seem so.” 

“You are wiser than I.” 

“But, still, in this case you think lam mistaken.” 

“ How could I make so bold ! ” 

“ As a member of the Council of War it is your duty to 
express your own opinion, and I regard it now as my part 
to show you whither the road leads along which you have 
come so far with bandaged eyes. Listen, then, and be 
guided by what I tell you when it-is your turn to speak in 
the assembly. Ruie, the high priest, is very old.” 

“ And you already exercise half his prerogatives.” 

“Would that he might soon lay down the rest of the 
burden ! — Not for my own sake, I love a contest, but for 
the welfare of our country. It has become a deeply- 
rooted habit to accept as the language of wisdom all that 
age decides and rules; thus there are few among the 
councillors who do not adhere to the old man, and yet his 
statecraft, like himself, goes only on crutches. All that 
is good gets lost in a fog under his weak and half-hearted 
guidance.” 

“ On this point you may count on my support,” cried 
the warrior. “ I will lend both hands to overthrow the 
dreamer on the throne and his senseless counselor.” 

At this the prophet laid his finger to his lip in warning, 
went close up to his companion, and said in low, rapid 
accents : “I am now expected at the palace, so hearken 
only to this much: If Joshua effects a reconciliation, his 
people, the guilty with the innocent, will all return, and 
the guilty will be punished. Among the innocent we may 
reckon the whole of Joshua’s tribe, the tribe of Ephraim, 
from old Nun, the father, down to the boy in your 
house.” 

“ They may be spared ; but as Mesu is a Hebrew, what- 
ever is done to him ” 

“ It will not be done in the open street ; and there is 
never any difficulty about sowing the seeds of discord 
between two men who have an equal right to rule in their 
own circle. I will take care that Joshua shall wink at the 
death of the other, and then Pharaoh, whether his name 
be Menephtah or ” (and here his voice fell to a murmur) 
“ or Siptah, shall raise him to .such a giddy height — for he 
deserves it — that his bewildered eye will never see any- 
thing we choose to hide from him. There is a dish of 


JOSHUA. 


73 

which no man can cease to eat who has once tasted it, and 
that meat we shall serve him withal.” 

“ A dish — meat ? ” 

“ Power, Hornecht. Immense power. As governor of 
a province, or captain-general over all the mercenary troops 
in Aarsu’s place, he will beware of quarreling with us. I 
know him. If we can but make him believe that Mesu 
has done him a wrong — and that overbearing man will of 
a certainty give us some ground — and if he can but be 
convinced that the law prescribes such punishment as we 
may inflict on the magician and the worst of his followers, 
he will not merely consent, but approve.” 

“ But if the embassy should fail ? ” 

“ Still he will come back to us : for he never would 
break an oath. But in the event of his being forcibly de- 
tained by Mesu, who is capable of anything, the boy will 
prove useful ; for Joshua loves him, his people set great 
store by his life, and he is a son of one of their noblest 
families. Pharaoh shall at any rate threaten the lad ; we, 
on our part, will protect him, and that will bind us more 
closely than ever to his uncle, and join him to those who 
are wroth with the king.”' 

“ Admirable ! ” 

“ And we shall yet more certainly gain our end if we 
can bind him by yet another tie, and now I beseech you 
to be calm, for you are too fiery for your years. In short, 
our brother in arms, the man who saved my life, the best 
warrior in all the army, and who consequently must rise 
to the highest honors, must be your daughter’s husband. 
Kasana loves the Hebrew — that I know from my wife.” 

The frown once more knit the archer’s brow and he 
struggled painfully to be calm. He felt that he must sub- 
due his aversion to calling this man his son-in-law ; for 
indeed he liked and esteemed him, though he was averse 
to his nationality. He could not, indeed, refrain from 
muttering a curse, but his reply to the priest was calmer 
and more reasonable than Baie had expected. If Kasana 
was so possessed by demons as to be drawn to this 
stranger, then she should have her way. But Joshua, as yet, 
had not wooed her. “And,” he added furiously, “ by the red 
god Set and his seventy fellows ! neither you nor any other 
man shall ever move me to force my child, who has suitors 
by the score, on a man who, though he calls himself our 


74 


JOSHUA . 


friend, has never yet found leisure to greet us in our own 
house ! Taking charge of the lad is another matter, and I 
will see that he does not escape.” 

“ Very good, my friend,” replied the priest, laying his 
hand on his companion’s shoulder. “ You know how 
highly I value Joshua, and if he should become your son- 
in-law he will be the most important and indispensable of 
all our colleagues, and then I fancy his nephew may grow 
up to be a valiant officer in our army.” 


CHAPTER XI. 

The midnight sky, sown with innumerable stars, spread 
deeply and purely blue over the broad level of the eastern 
delta and the town of Succoth, which the Egyptians called, 
from its presiding deity, Pithom, or the city* of Toom. 
The March night was drawing to its close. White mists 
floated above the canal, a work of the Hebrew bondsmen, 
which intersected the plain and watered the pasture-land 
and meadows which lay on all sides as far as the eye 
could reach. To the east and north the horizon was 
shrouded by the thick haze which rose from the broad 
lakes by the isthmus. The hot, sandy, desert-wind, which 
yesterday had blown over the thirsty grass ; the desert 
border-land to the east, and the houses and tents of Suc- 
coth, had died away during the night, and the chill hour 
which in March precedes sunrise, even in Egypt, was very 
perceptible. 

Any one who had in former days arrived between mid- 
night and dawn at the humble frontier town with its squalid 
hovels of Nile-mud and modest farms and dwellings, could 
not have recognized it now. Even its one important build- 
ing besides the splendid temple of the god Toom, the 
spacious and fortified storehouse, presented a strange 
spectacle. The long, white, lime-washed walls gleamed as 
usual through the dusk ; but it no longer towered in death- 
like silence over the - sleeping town ; all about it was stir 
and bustle. It did duty as a fortress against the plunder- 
ing tribes of Shasoos* who had made their way round the 


* Bedouins, whose nomad hordes swarmed in the desert adjoining 
Egypt on the east, now regarded as belonging to Asia. 


JOSHUA. 


75 


outworks of the isthmus, and an Egyptian garrison dwelt 
within its indestructible walls, which could easily be held 
against very superior numbers. 

This morning it might have been supposed that the sons 
of the desert had taken it by storm ; but the men and 
women who were so busy round the walls and on the broad 
marble parapet of the huge building were not Shasoos, but 
Hebrews. With shouts and demonstrations of joy they 
were taking possession of the thousands of measures of 
wheat and barley, rye and doorah, lentils, dates and onions, 
which they had found in those vast lofts, and had set to 
work before sunrise to empty the storehouse and pack the 
contents into sacks and pitchers and skins, into kneading- 
troughs, jars and sheets, let down from the roof by cords 
or carried up and down on ladders. 

The chiefs of the tribes, indeed, took no part in the work, 
but in spite of the early hour, children of all ages might 
be seen, as busy as the rest, carrying as much as they 
could lift in pots and bowls — their mothers’ cooking 
vessels. 

Above, close to the open trap-doors of the lofts, into 
which the stars shone down, and round the foot of the 
ladders below, women held lanterns or torches to light the 
others at their work. Flaring pitch-brands were burning 
in front of the ponderous closed doors, and armed shep- 
herds were pacing up and down in the light of the blaze. 
When, now and again, there was a sound within as of a 
stone thrown, or a kick against the brass-bound door, and 
of threatening words in the Egyptian tongue, the Hebrews 
outside were ready enough with words of mockery and 
scorn. 

On the day of the harvest festival, at the hour of the 
first evening watch, certain swift runners had come to 
Succoth and had announced to the sons of Israel who 
dwelt there, and whose numbers were twentyfold as great 
as those of the Egyptians, that they had started from 
Tanis early that morning, that their people were to depart 
thence that night, and that their kindred of Succoth were 
to make ready to fly with them. At this there had been 
great rejoicing among the Hebrews. They, like their 
fellow Israelites of Tanis, had assembled together that 
night of the new moon after the spring equinox, when the 
harvest festival began, to a solemn feast ; and the heads 


7 6 


JOSHUA . 


of their households had declared to them that the day of 
freedom was now at hand, and that the Lord was about to 
lead them forth to the promised land. 

Here, as at Tanis, many had been faint-hearted and 
rebellious, and others had attempted to separate their lot 
from that of the rest and so remain behind ; but here, too, 
they had been carried away by the multitude. And as 
Aaron and Nun had addressed the people at Tanis, so 
here Eleazar, the son of Aaron, and Nahshon and Hur, 
the heads of the tribe of Judah, had done the same. And 
Miriam, the maiden sister of Moses, had gone from house 
to house, and with her glowing words had lighted and 
fanned the flames of enthusiasm in the hearts of the men, 
and persuaded the women that, with the morning’s sun, a 
day of gladness, plenty and freedom would dawn on them 
and on their children. 

Few had turned a deaf ear to the prophetess, and there 
was something majestic and commanding in the presence 
of this maiden, whose large black eyes, overarched by 
thick, dark eyebrows which met in the middle, seemed to 
read the hearts of those they gazed on, and to awe the 
refractory with their grave gleam. 

When the feast was over each household had retired to 
rest with hopeful and uplifted hearts. But the next day 
and the following night and dawn had changed everything. 
It was as though the desert-wind had buried all courage 
and confidence in the sand it swept before it. The dread 
of wandering through the unknown had crept again into 
every soul, and many a one who had brandished his staff 
with the high spirit of enterprise, now clung obstinately to 
the house of his fathers, to his well-tended garden plot, 
and to the harvest in the fields, of which no more than 
half was yet garnered. 

The Egyptian garrison in the fortified stone house had 
not indeed failed to observe that some unusual excitement 
prevailed among the Hebrews, but they had ascribed it to 
the harvest feast. The commander of the fort had heard 
that Moses desired to lead his people forth into the 
desert, there to sacrifice to their God, and he had asked 
for reinforcements. But he knew nothing more, for till 
the morning when the hot wind had arisen no Hebrew 
had betrayed his brethren’s purpose.. On that day, how- 
ever, as the heat oppressed them more and more, the 


JOSHUA . 


77 


greater grew the dread of the terrified people of marching 
ever onward through the scorching sandy and waterless 
waste. This fearful day was but a foretaste of what lay 
before them, and when toward midday the dust cloud was 
yet dense, and the air more suffocating, a Hebrew dealer, 
from whom the Egyptian soldiers would purchase small 
wares, stole into the storehouse and instigated the captain 
to hinder his fellow Hebrews from rushing to destruction. 

Even among the better sort the voice of discontent had 
been loud. Izehar and Michael and their sons, who dis- 
liked the power of Moses and Aaron, had gone from one 
to another and tried to incite them to call the elders 
together again before they set forth, and ask them whether 
it would not be wiser to make terms with the Egyptians. 

While these malcontents had succeeded in assembling 
many followers, and the traitor had gone to the captain of 
the Egyptian garrison, two more runners had come in 
with a message to say that the multitude of the Hebrew 
fugitives would arrive at Succoth between midnight and 
dawn. 

Breathless and speechless, bathed in sweat and bleed- 
ing at the mouth, the elder of the two messengers dropped 
on the threshold of the house of Aminadab where Miriam 
just now was dwelling. The exhausted men had to be 
revived with wine and food before even the less weary one 
could speak coherently ; and then, in a husky voice, but 
overflowing with thankfulness and enthusiasm, he had told 
all that had happened at their departing, and how that the 
God of their fathers had filled all hearts with His spirit, 
and infused fresh confidence into the most faint-hearted. 

Miriam had listened with flashing eyes to this inspiring 
tale, and then, flinging her veil about her head, she bade 
the servants of the house, who had collected about the 
runners, to gather all the people together under the syca- 
more, whose broad boughs, the growth of a thousand years, 
sheltered a wide space from the scorching sun. 

The hot wind was still blowing, but the glad tidings 
seemed to have broken its power over the spirits of men, 
and thousands had come pouring out to assemble under 
the sycamore. Miriam gave her hand to Eleazar, the son of 
her brother Aaron, sprang on to the bench which stood 
close to the huge, hollow trunk of the tree, and in a loud 
voice prayed to the Lord, raising her hands and eyes to 
Heaven, as though in ecstasy her eyes beheld Him. 


7 * 


JOSHUA. 


Then she bade the messenger speak, and when he had 
once more declared all that had befallen in Zoan, a loud 
cry went up from the multitude. Then Eleazar, the son of 
Aaron, described in glowing words all that the Lord had 
done for his people and had promised to them and their 
children, and their children’s children. 

Every word from the speaker’s eager lips had fallen on 
the hearts of his hearers like the fresh dew of morning on 
parched grass. The believers had shouted greeting to him 
and to Miriam, and the faint-hearted had found new wings 
of hope. Izehar and Michael and their followers murmured 
no more; nay, most of them had caught the general en- 
thusiasm, and when presently a Hebrew soldier of the 
garrison stole out from the storehouse and revealed to them 
that his chief had been informed of what was going forward, 
Eleazar, Nahshon, Hurand some others had held a council 
with the shepherds present, and had urged them in fiery 
language to show now that they were men and not afraid 
to fight, with God’s mighty help, for their nation and its 
freedom. There was no lack of axes, staves, sickles and 
brazen pikes, of heavy poles and slings, the shepherds’ 
weapons against the beasts of the desert, though of bows 
and arrows they had none. A strong force of powerful 
herdsmen had collected round Hur, and they at once had 
marched upon the Egyptian overseers who were in author- 
ity over some hundreds of Hebrew bondsmen toiling at 
the earthworks. 

With the cry, “ They are coming ! Down with the op- 
pressors ! The Lord our God is our captain ! ” they threw 
themselves on the Libyan guard, scattered them abroad 
and released the Hebrew laborers and stone-hewers. The 
noble Nahshon had set the example of clasping one of the 
hapless serfs as a brother to his heart, and then the others 
embraced the men they had set free, and thus the shout : 
“ They are coming ! The Lord God of our fathers is our 
captain ! ” rang out far and wide. When at last the hand- 
ful of shepherds had swollen to a thousand Hur had led 
them on to meet the Egyptian warriors, whose numbers 
were far inferior. 

The garrison, indeed, was but a handful ; the Hebrew 
host was now beyond counting. 

The Egyptian archers had shot a flight of arrows, and 
the slings of the stalwart Hebrews had sent a shower of 


JOSHUA . 


79 


deadly pebbles among the foremost of the foe, when a 
trumpet-call was heard calling the party of soldiers back 
into the shelter of the scarped walls and stout doors. The 
Egyptian chief had judged the Hebrew force too great, and 
his first duty was to hold the fort till reinforcements should 
arrive. 

But Hur had not been content with this first victory. 
Success had fanned the courage of his followers as a new 
breeze fans a smoldering fire ; whenever an Egyptian 
showed himself on the roof of the storehouse a smooth 
pebble hit him sharply from the sling of a shepherd marks- 
man. By Nahshon’s orders ladders were brought out. In 
an instant the besiegers were swarming up the building on 
all sides, and after a short and bloodless struggle the stores 
were in the hands of the Hebrews. The Egyptians could 
only keep possession of the adjoining stronghold. 

Meanwhile the wind had fallen. The more furious of the 
released bondsmen had piled straw, timber and brushwood 
before the door of the little fort into which the Egyptians 
had retired, and they could without difficulty have destroyed 
the foe to the last man by fire ; but Hur, Nahshon and 
the other wiser heads among the Hebrews had not permitted 
the destruction of the victuals laid up in the great store- 
house 

It had, indeed, been no easy matter to keep the younger 
men among the oppressed serfs from this deed of vengeance ; 
but they all belonged to some family in the settlement, and 
as Hur’s prohibition was supported by the commands of 
their parents, they were soon not merely pacified but ready 
to help in distributing the contents of the granaries among 
the households, and in loading them into carts or on to 
beasts of burden, to be carried off by the fugitives. 

All this took place by the flaming light of torches, and it 
soon had assumed the character of an orgie, for neither 
Nahshon nor Eleazar had been able to hinder the men and 
women from opening the wine skins and jars. However, 
they succeeded in saving the larger part of the precious 
booty for the time of need, and although there, indeed, too 
many were drunk, the strong juice of the grape and their 
glee at securing so much plunder moved the multitude to 
thankfulness. When at length Eleazar went among them 
once more to speak to them of the Promised Land they 
were ready to listen to him with uplifted hearts, and joined 
in a hymn of praise started by Miriam. 


So 


JOSHUA, 


As in Zoan the spirit of the Lord had fallen on the 
people in the hour of their departing, so now in Succoth. 
When some ancient men and women who had hidden them- 
selves in the temple of Zoan heard the song of triumph, 
they came forth and joined the rest, and packed up their 
possessions with as much glad hope and confidence in the 
God of their fathers as if they had never murmured at 
departing. 

As the stars faded, joy and excitement increased. Men 
and women went out in troops on the road to Tanis to meet 
their brethren. Many a father led his youthful son by the 
hand, many a mother carried her infant on her arm : for 
there were kindred to greet in the coming multitude, and 
this day must bring some moments of solemn joy in which 
all who were near and dear must share, and which even the 
youngest child would remember when he himself had 
children and grandchildren. 

None sought his bed in the tent, hut or houses, for every 
hand was needed to finish the work of packing. The crowd 
of toilers in the storehouse had diminished, and most house- 
holds were furnished with as much food as they could carry 
away. 

In front of the tents and hovels men and women, ready 
to depart, were camping round hastily lighted fires, and in 
the farm yards the cattle were being driven together, and 
such beasts and sheep as were unfit to march were at once 
slaughtered. Outside many of the houses men plied the 
axe and hammer, and the sound of sawing was heard, for 
litters and couches had to be hastily constructed for the 
sick and feeble. Here, again, chariots and wagons were 
still being loaded, and husbands had no small trouble with 
their wives ; for it is always hard to forfeit a possession, 
be it great or small, and a woman’s heart often clings more 
fondly to some worthless trifle than to the most precious 
object she owns. When Rebecca was eager to carry away 
the roughly-made cradle in which her infant died rather 
than the beautiful ebony chest inlaid with ivory which her 
husband had taken in pledge from an Egyptian, who could 
blame her ? Lights shone from every window and tent 
door, and torches or lanterns blazed from the roof of all the 
better dwellings to welcome the coming host. 

At the feast which had been held on the night of the 
harvest festival not a table had lacked its lamb roast with 


JOSHUA . 


81 


fire, but in this hour of waiting the housewives again offered 
such food as they had ready. 

The narrow street of the little town was alive with stir ; 
the waning stars had never before looked down on such 
joyful faces, such bright and eager eyes, such beaming looks 
of hope and happy faith. 


CHAPTER XII. 

When morning dawned all those who had not already 
gone forth to greet the wanderers were gathered on the 
roof of one of the largest houses in Succoth, where the 
coming Hebrews were to make their first long halt. 

Hurrying on before them fleet-footed men and boys, 
one after another, arrived in the town. Aminadab’s house 
was their goal. It consisted of two buildings, one of which 
was inhabited by Nahshon, the son of the owner, and his 
family. In the other and larger part, besides the master 
of the house and his wife, his son-in-law, Aaron, dwelt with 
his wife, children and grandchildren, and also Miriam. 

The old man, a prince of the tribe, who had given over 
the duties connected with his position to his son Nahshon, 
stretched out his trembling hands toward each messenger, 
and listened to his story with sparkling eyes that were 
nearly blinded by tears. He had persuaded his old wife 
to sit in the armchair in which she was to be carried after 
their people, so that she might become accustomed to it, 
and for the same rea'son he was reclining in his. 

When the old woman heard the messengers announce 
that the glorious future that had been promised the people 
was now within reach, her eyes sought her husband and 
she cried : “ Aye through Moses ! ” For she held the 

brother of her daughter’s husband in high esteem, and it 
pleased her to see his prophecies fulfilled. She looked 
also with pride on Aaron, her son-in-law : but above all 
she loved Eleazar, her grandson, in whom she looked for- 
ward to the development of a second Moses. She had 
found Miriam, after the death of her parents, a very wel- 
come house companion. But the warm-hearted old folks’ 
affection for the grave young maid never grew to parental 
tenderness, and Elisheba, Aaron’s busy wife, would not 

b 


82 


JOSHUA. 


share the cares of the great household with Miriam ; nor 
did their son Nahshon’s wife need her help, for she, indeed, 
lived with her nearest of kin under their own roof. But 
the old people were grateful to Miriam for her care of their 
grandchild, Milcah, the daughter of Aaron and Elisheba, 
whom a great misfortune had changed from a happy child 
into a melancholy woman, for whom all joy was dead. A 
few days after her marriage with a beloved husband he had 
allowed himself, in a fit of wrath, to lift his hand against an 
Egyptian tax-gatherer, who, when Pharaoh was passing 
eastward by Succoth, wanted to drive off a large herd of his 
finest oxen for the kitchen of the lord of two worlds. In 
consequence of this self-redress the unfortunate man had 
been taken as a State prisoner to work in the mines, and 
it was well known that the convict there must perish, body 
and soul, of torturing overwork. Through the influence 
of Nun, Joshua’s father, the prisoner’s wife and household 
were spared from sharing this punishment. She, however, 
pined away more and more, and the only one who under- 
stood the way to rouse the pale, silent wife from her 
brooding was Miriam. To her had the deserted woman 
attached herself, and she followed Miriam where she prac- 
ticed the medical knowledge that she had learned, and 
carried remedies and alms into the huts of the poor. 

The last messengers, whom Aminadab and his wife re- 
ceived on the roof, painted in dark colors the pain and mise- 
ry of wandering of which he had been a witness, but when 
a soft-hearted creature among them wept aloud at the great 
sufferings the women and children had undergone during 
the gale from the desert, and gloomily foretold for the future 
horrors not less than those he so vividly remembered, the 
old man spoke words of comfort to him, reminding him of 
the almighty power of God, and of the force of habit, which 
would also help them. His wrinkled face expressed sin- 
cere hope, whereas in Miriam’s beautiful but stern features 
there was little expression of the religious trust of which 
youth usually has more than age. 

While the messengers went and came she did not stir 
from the side of the old people, and left it to her sister-in- 
law, Elisheba, and her serving maids to give refreshments 
to the fatigued wanderers. She listened to them intently 
and with deep-drawn breath, though it appeared to her 
that all she learned forbode trouble. For she knew that 


yoSHUA. 


83 


only those who were attached to her brothers, the leaders 
of the people, would have found their way into the house 
that sheltered Aaron. 

Now and then she would ask a question, as well as the old 
man, and as she spoke the messengers, who heard her voice 
for the first time, looked up at her in surprise, for it was 
indeed sweet, though singularly deep. 

After several runners had assured her, in answer to her 
inquiry, that Joshua, the son of Nun, had not come with 
the others, she dropped her head, and asked no more, 
until pale Milcah, who followed her everywhere, cast a 
beseeching looked from her black eyes and whispered 
“ Reuben,” the name of her imprisoned husband. Then 
the young girl kissed the lonely child and looked at her as 
though she had neglected something, and asked the mes- 
sengers with pressing eagerness if they had heard anything 
of Reuben, who had been carried away to the mines. 
But only one had heard from a released criminal that 
Milcah’s husband was alive in the copper mines in the dis- 
trict of Beck, near Mt. Sinai. The news encouraged the 
young prophetess to assure Milcah with vivid warmth that 
when the people should march eastward they would cer- 
tainly go to the mines to release the captive Hebrews 
who were there. 

These were good words, and Milcah, who was leaning on 
the breast of her comforter, would gladly have heard more, 
but those who were looking out into the distance from 
Aminadab’s roof were now in great excitement. From the 
north came a dark cloud, and directly after a wonderful 
muttering, then a loud roar, and lastly a thousand-voiced 
cry and shout, with bellowing, neighing and bleating, such 
as had never been heard before — and the multitudinous 
and many-voiced mass of men and herds came rolling 
along in that interminable stream which the astrologer’s 
grandson, when watching from the temple at Tanis, had 
taken for the serpent from the nether world. 

Even now, by the light of dawn, it was easy to mistake 
it for an army of disembodied spirits driven from the 
stronghold of the dead ; for a pale grey column of dust 
reaching to the blue heavens swept before them, and no 
single figure could be distinguished among the immense 
swarming, noisy throng which was enveloped in the cloud. 
Every now and again the sunbeams caught the metal point 


8 4 


JOSHUA . 


of a lance or of a brass vessel with a bright gleam, and the 
loud shout of one voice could be heard above the others. 

Now the foremost waves of the stream had reached 
Aminadab’s court yard, in front of which lay a vast tract of 
pasture lands. 

Commands rang out, and the multitude halted and 
parted like a mountain lake which, flooded in spring, over- 
flows in brooks and tiny rills. However, the narrow 
streams soon reunited, and, taking possession of the broad, 
level pasture land now wet with morning dew, the proces- 
sion of men and beasts settled down to rest, and there the 
veil of dust that had hidden them presently vanished. 

The road remained for some time wrapped in the cloud, 
but in the meadows, men, women and children were to be 
seen in the blaze of the rising sun, with oxen and asses, 
sheep and goats, and in a little while tent after tent was 
erected in the fields around Aminadab’s and Nahshon’s 
houses. The cattle were penned in with hurdles ; poles 
and stakes were driven into the hard ground, awnings 
spread, cows fettered, herds of oxen and sheep driven to 
water and fires lighted. Long files of women, carrying 
jars on their heads which they balanced with easily and 
beautifully-curved arms, passed by to the well behind the 
old sycamore, or the bank of the nearest canal. 

To-day, as on every other work day, a humped ox turned 
the water wheel. It irrigated the land that the owner of 
the oxen must leave on the morrow; but the slave that 
drove it thought not of the morrow, and, as no one hin- 
dered him, worked on in the’ stolid way he was used to, 
watering the grass for the enemy into whose hands it would 
fall. 

It was a good hour before the wandering crowd had 
all reached the camp, and Miriam, as she described to 
Aminadab — whose eyes were no longer strong enough to 
see at a distance — what was going on down below, beheld 
many a sight from which she would gladly have turned 
away her eyes. 

She dared not tell the old man openly all she saw, for it 
would have destroyed his glad hopefulness. 

She, who trusted with the whole ardor of an inspired 
soul in the God of her fathers, had shared till yesterday the 
confidence of the old man, although the Lord had certainly 
granted her the fatal gift of seeing things and hearing 


JOSHUA. 


*5 


words no one else could comprehend. This generally took 
place in her dreams, but also in lonely hours when she 
fixed her mind in meditation on the past and the future. 

The message from the Most High which Ephraim had 
carried to Joshua in her name had come to her from 
invisible lips as she sat under the sycamore, thinking of 
the exodus, and of the man she had loved from her child- 
hood ; and this very morning, between midnight and 
dawn, as she lay under the venerable tree, overpowered by 
fatigue, it seemed to her that she had again heard the same 
voice. The words had vanished from her mind as she 
woke, but she knew that they had been sad and ominous. 

Vague as the warning had been, it still haunted her 
painfully, and the cry which came up from the plain was 
certainly no shout of joy at having happily reached their 
brethren and the first stage of their wanderings, as the old 
man at her side believed ; nay, it was the angry cry of 
fierce, ungoverned men wrangling and fighting for a 
pleasant spot in the meadow whereon to pitch their tents, 
or for a good watering place for their beasts by the well or 
on the banks of the rivulets. 

Rage, disappointment and despair were heard in that 
cry ; and presently, looking round for the spot whence it 
rose the loudest, she beheld a woman’s corpse borne along 
by some bondsmen on a sheet of tent cloth, and a pale 
babe, touched by the finger of death, which its father, a 
wild-looking fellow, carried in one arm, while he shook his 
clenched left hand, which was free, with threatening 
gestures in the direction of her brothers. 

And in a moment she saw an old man, bent with hard 
labor, lift up his hand against Moses, whom he would have 
struck to the ground if others had not dragged him away. 

She could no longer bear to stay on the roof. Pale and 
panting she flew out to the camp. Milcah followed her 
closely, and wherever they met people belonging to Sue- 
coth they were greeted with respect. The people of Zoan, 
and those of Pha-gos, whom they met in the way, did not 
know Miriam ; still, the prophetess’ tall figure and noble 
dignity made them move aside for her, or reply to her 
questions. 

Then she heard terrible and evil tidings, for the multi- 
tude which had set forth so joyfully on the first day had 
crept along in dejection and woe on the second. The hot 


86 


JOSHUA. 


wind had broken the spirit and strength of many who had 
started in high health, and other sick folks besides the 
bondsman’s wife and infant had fallen sick of fever from 
the choking dust and scorching heat, and the speaker 
pointed to a procession making its way to the Hebrew 
burying place of Succoth. Nor were those who were being 
borne to the rest whence there is no return women and 
children only, or such as their kindred had brought away 
sick rather than leave them behind ; but likewise men, who 
only yesterday had been strong, and who had either sunk 
under too heavy a burden or had heedlessly exposed thenl- 
selves to the sun’s rays as they drove their herds onward. 

In one tent Miriam found a young mother, who lay 
trembling with fever, and she bade Milcah go fetch her 
case of medicines. The forlorn wife gladly and quickly 
departed on this errand. On her way she stopped many 
a passer-by to inquire timidly for her captive husband, but 
she could get no news of him. Miriam, however, learned 
from Nun, Joshua’s father, that Eliab, thefreedman he had 
left behind, had sent him word that his son was ready to 
follow his people. She also heard that Ephraim had been 
hurt and had found shelter in Joshua’s tent. 

Was the lad seriously ill, or what could it be that 
detained his uncle in Tanis ? The question filled Miriam’s 
heart with fresh anxiety, yet she dispensed help and com- 
fort wherever it was possible with unflagging energy. 

Old Nun’s hearty greeting had cheered her, and no more 
stalwart, kind, or more lovable old man could be imagined. 
The mere sight of his noble head with its thick, snow-white 
hair, and beard, and the bright eyes which sparkled with 
youthful fire in the handsome face, had done her good, and 
when he expressed his joy at seeing her once more in his 
vivid and winning manner, pressing her to his heart and 
kissing her brow, she told him that she had bidden his son, 
in the name of the Lord, henceforth to bear the name of 
Joshua, and had called upon him to be reunited to his 
people and to be the captain of their host. Then she felt, 
indeed, as though she had found a father in the place of 
him she had lost, and applied herself with renewed vigor 
to the stern duties which called her from every side. 

Nor was it a small effort to the lofty-minded maiden to 
devote herself with loving kindness to her fellow-creatures, 
whose wild and coarse demeanor pained her soul. The 


JOSHUA. 


87 


women, indeed, were glad of help, but to the men, who 
had grown up under the overseer’s whip, modesty and 
consideration were unknown. Their minds were as 
savage as their manners. As soon as they knew who she 
was they reviled her because her brother had tempted them 
forth to leave endurable woes and rush to a fearful fate ; 
and as she heard their curses and blaspheming, and saw 
the fierce black eyes that glittered in those brown faces all 
hung about with rough, curling black hair and beard, her 
heart shrank within her. And yet she was able to con- 
trol her fear and aversion ; her pulses throbbed and she 
was prepared for the worst, yet she did but commend the 
men who were so repulsive to her to the God of their 
fathers and His promises, though womanly weakness 
prompted her to flee. 

Now, indeed, she understood what the sad, warning 
voice forboded which she had heard under the sycamore, 
and as she stood by the bed of a young mother sick unto 
death she lifted up her hands and heart to the Most High, 
and made a vow that she would dedicate all her powers to 
fight against the faint-hearted want of faith and the wild 
insubordination which threatened to bring her people into 
great straits. The Lord Almighty had promised them a 
fair land, and the short-sighted pride of a few erring ones 
should not cheat them of it. And God himself could 
hardly be wroth with a race which was content so long as 
the bodies were supplied with the food they needed, and 
which had endured scorn and blows as unresistingly as 
cattle. The multitude did not yet understand that they 
must live through the night of their present woes to be 
worthy of the day which awaited them. 

Her medicines seemed to relieve the sick woman, and 
she quitted the tent in revived spirits to seek her bro- 
thers. 

In the camp matters were no better, and again she wit- 
nessed many scenes which shocked her soul and made her 
regret that she had brought with her the tender-hearted 
Milcah. 

Certain evil-doers among the bondsmen, who had laid 
hands on the cattle and goods of others, had been caught 
and tied up to a palm tree ; and the ravens which had 
followed the tribes, and had found ample food by the way, 
were already croaking greedily round the hastily contrived 
gallows tree. 


88 


JOSHUA. 


None knew who was judge or executioner of the 
sentence ; but the owners who were assisting in the deed 
thought themselves fully justified and gloried in it. With 
hasty steps and averted head, Miriam drew the trembling 
Milcah away and placed her in the charge of her uncle, 
Nahshon, to be conducted home. Nahshon was just part- 
ing from the man who shared with him the rank of prince 
of the tribe of Judah. This was that same Hur who had 
won the first victory against the Egyptians at the head of 
the shepherds, and he now led the maiden with happy 
pride toward a man and a youth — his son and grandson. 
They had both been in the service of the Egyptians, and at 
Memphis had worked as goldsmiths and brass founders to 
Pharaoh. The elder, by reason of his skill, had received 
the name of Uri, or the Great ; and the son of this father, 
Hur’s grandson, Bezaleel, was said to be more gifted even 
than his father, though as yet hardly more than a youth. 

Hur gazed at his child and grandchild with justifiable 
pride, for although they had both risen to high esteen 
among the Egyptians they had followed without demur at 
their father’s bidding, leaving behind them much to which 
their hearts clung, and which bound them to Memphis, to 
join the wandering people and share their uncertain fate. 

Miriam warmly greeted the newcomers, and the men 
before her, representatives of three generations, afforded 
a picture on which no kindly eye could fail to rest with 
pleasure. The grandfather was nigh on threescore, but 
although there was much silver mingled with his ebony 
black hair, he still held himself as straight as a young man, 
and his thin, sharply-cut features revealed an unbending 
determination, which sufficiently accounted for the readi- 
ness with which his son and grandson had obeyed his call. 
Uri, too, was a well-grown man, and Bezaleel a lad in whom 
it could be seen that he had made good use of his nineteen 
years, and could already stand firmly on his own feet. His 
artist’s eye sparkled with a peculiar light, and when 
presently he and his father took leave of Miriam to pay 
their respects to Caleb, their grandfather and greatgrand- 
father, she heartily congratulated Hur, her brother’s truest 
friend, on having such descendants to keep up the noble 
race. 

At this Hur, taking her hand, exclaimed with a grateful 
fervor, which sprang from his heart, and which was usually 


JOSHUA . 


89 


foreign to the stern, imperious nature of this chief of an 
unruly tribe of herdsmen: “Yes, they have ever been 
good and true and dutiful. God hath protected them and 
granted me to see this joyful day. Now it lies with you 
to make it a high feast day. You must long since have 
seen that my eye was ever on you, and that you are dear 
to my heart. I am a man, and you as a woman are 
pledged to do all that is best for the people and their wel- 
fare, and that constitutes a bond between us. But I would 
fain be bound to you by a yet stronger tie, and whereas 
your parents are dead, and I cannot go to Amram with 
the bride gift in my hand and pay him for you, I ask 
you of yourself in marriage, noble maiden. And before 
you say me yea or nay let me tell you that my son and 
grandson are ready to honor you as the head of our house as 
they honor me, and that I have your brother’s permission 
to approach you as a suitor.” 

Miriam had listened to this proposal in speechless sur- 
prise. She held the man who pleaded so warmly in high 
esteem, and was well inclined toward him. Notwithstand- 
ing his ripe age he stood before her in all the strength of 
manhood and lofty dignity, and the beseeching of his 
eyes, more wont to command, went to her soul. 

But she looked for another with ardent longing, and her 
only reply was a regretful shake of the head. 

But this man, the head of his tribe, who was accus- 
tomed to go straight to the end of anything he had 
resolved upon, was not deterred by this silent rejection, 
and went on more fervently than before : “ Do not in one 
moment overthrow the cherished hopes of many years ! 
Is it my age that repels you ? ” 

And once more Miriam shook her head. But Hur 
again spoke : 

“That, indeed, was what troubled me, although in 
strength and vigor I could measure myself against many a 
younger man. And if you could but overlook your suitor’s 
grey hairs you might perhaps bring yourself to consider his 
request. Of the truth and devotion of my suit I will say 
nothing. No man sues to a woman at my age unless his 
heart urges with great power. But there is another thing 
which to me seems of no less weight. I would fain, as I 
have said, take you home to my house. There it stands ; 
it is strong and roomy enough ; but from to-morrow a 


90 


JOSHUA . 


tent must be our roof, a camp our dwelling place, and 
wild deeds will be done there. Look only on the hapless 
creatures they have bound to that palm tree. There is no 
judge to try the accused : the hasty impulse of the people 
is their only law. No one is secure even of his life, least 
of all a woman, however strong she may feel herself, who 
casts in her lot with those against whom the multitude 
murmur. Your parents are dead, your brothers cannot 
protect you, and if the multitude should lay hands on 
them the stone over which you hoped to cross the flood 
will drag you to the bottom.” 

“ And if I were your wife, drag you with me,” replied 
Miriam, and her thick, black brows were gloomily knit. 

11 That danger I am prepared to face,” answered Hur. 
lt Our lot is in the hands of the Lord ; my faith is as firm 
as yours, and behind me stands the whole tribe of Judah, 
which follows me and Nahshon as a flock follows the 
shepherd. Old Nun and the Ephraimites are faithful to- 
us, and if it came to the worst it would be our duty to 
perish as God wills, or, after reaching the Promised Land, 
to wait in patience for our latter end in faithful union, in 
wealth and power.” 

At this Miriam looked him full and fearlessly in the 
eyes, and laid her hand on his arm, saying : 

“ Such words are worthy of the man I have revered 
from my childhood, the father of such sons. Yet I cannot 
be your wife.” 

“ You cannot ?” 

“ Nay, my lord, I cannot.” 

“ A hard saying, but I must be content,” replied Hur, 
and he bowed his head sadly. 

But Miriam went on : 

“ Nay, Hur, you have a right to ask the reason of my 
refusal, and inasmuch as I honor you I owe you the simple 
truth. My heart is set on another man of our people. I 
first saw him while I was but a child. Like your son and 
grandson, he joined himself to the Egyptians. But he, 
like them, has heard the call of God and of his father, and 
if he, like Uri and Bezaleel, has obeyed them, and still 
desires to have me to wife, I will go to him if it be the 
Lord’s will, whom I serve and who grants me of His grace 
to hear His voice. But I will ever think thankfully of 
you.” As she spoke the girl’s large eyes glistened through 


JOSHUA. 91 

tears, and her grey-haired suitor’s voice quivered as he 
asked her shyly and hesitatingly : 

“ But if the man you wait for — I do not seek to know 
his name — if he turns a deaf ear to the call that has gone 
forth to him, if he refuses to throw in his lot with the 
uncertain lot of his nation ? ” 

“ That can never be ! ” cried Miriam ; but a cold chill 
ran through her veins, as Hur exclaimed : 

“ There is no never, no certainty save with God. And 
if in spite of your high faith, things fall out other than 
you expect — if the Lord deny you the desire which first 
grew up in your heart when you were yet but a foolish 
child?” 

“ Then will He show me the right way by which He 
hath led me until now.” 

“ Well, well,” said Hur, mt build on that foundation, and 
if the man of your choice is worthy of you and becomes 
your husband my soul shall rejoice without envy, if the 
Lord shall bless your union. But if, indeed, God wills it 
otherwise, and you shall crave a strong arm on which to 
lean, here am I. The heart and the tent of Hur will be 
ever open to you.” 

He hurried away. Miriam gazed after him, lost in 
thought, till the proud and princely figure was out of 
sight. 

Then she made her way back toward the home of her 
protectors ; but as she crossed the way leading to Tanis 
she paused to look northward. The dust was laid and 
the road could be traced far into the distance ; but he, the 
one who should be riding toward her and toward his 
people, was not in sight. It was with a heavy sigh and 
drooping head that she went on her way, and the sound 
of her brother Moses, deep voice made her start as she 
reached the sycamore. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

Aaron and Eleazar in stirring words had reminded the 
murmuring disheartened people of the might and promises 
of their God. Those who had stretched themselves out 
quietly to their rest, after being refreshed by drink and food, 


JOSHUA. 


9 * 

found their lost confidence revived. The freed bonds- 
men remembered the cruel slavery and degrading blows 
from which they had escaped, acknowledging, as the 
others did, that it was by God’s providence that Pharaoh 
was not pursuing them. The rich supplies, which were 
still being distributed from the plundered storehouse, con- 
tributed not a little to reanimate their courage, and the 
serfs and lepers — for they, for the most part, had marched 
forth also, and were resting outside the camp — in short, 
all those for whose maintenance Pharaoh had provided, 
knew that for some time they were secure from need and 
want. Nevertheless there was no lack of discontented 
spirits, and now and then, without any one knowing who 
had started the question, it was asked if it would not be 
wiser to turn back and trust to Pharaoh’s forgiveness. 
Those who uttered it did so secretly, and had often to take 
a sharp or threatening answer. 

Miriam had come out to meet her brothers and shared 
their anxiety. How quickly had the spirit of the people 
been broken in this short march by the hot desert wind ! 
How discontented, how distrustful, how hostile they had 
shown themselves at the very first adversity. How 
unbridled in following their own wild impulses ! 

When they had been called together for prayer on the 
way, a short time before sunrise, some had turned toward 
the sun as it rose in the east, some had pulled out images 
of the gods which they had brought with them, and others 
again had fixed their eyes on the acacia trees by the road, 
which were regarded as sacred to many of the provinces 
by the Nile. What, indeed, could they know of the God 
who had commanded them to leave so much behind them 
and to carry such a burden ? Many of them were even 
now quite disheartened, and as yet they had faced no real 
danger, for Moses had purposed to lead his people by the 
direct road to Philistia into the Promised Land of Pales- 
tine, but their demeanor forced him to give up this place 
and to think of another. 

In order to reach the highway which connected Asia 
and Africa, it was necessary to pass over the isthmus 
which really divides rather than it unites the two conti- 
nents ; but it was well defended from invaders, and the 
way was secure from fugitives, partly by natural and 
partly by artificial obstacles. A succession of deep lakes 


JOSHUA. 


93 


broke the level land, and where these did not check the 
wanderers’ march, strong fortifications towered up in 
which lay Egyptian troops ready to fight. 

Khetam, or, as the Israelites called it, Etham, was the 
name of this range of forts, and the nearest and strongest 
could be reached in a few hours by the tribes who were 
marching from Succoth. 

With the people full of the spirit of their God, inspired 
and prepared for the worst, freed from their chains and 
rejoicing in their newly gained liberty, rushing along 
toward the Promised Land, Moses and the other leaders 
with him had intended that, like a mountain torrent burst- 
ing through dams and sluices, they should annihilate and 
destroy all who came in their way. With this inspirited 
throng, whose bold advances might achieve the highest 
triumphs, and to whom cowardly retreat could have meant 
nothing but death and destruction, they had expected to 
overthrow the works of the Etham frontier like a pile of 
brushwood. But now that a few short hours of weariness 
and suffering had quenched the fire in their .souls, now 
that on every side could be seen for every happy, elated 
man, two indifferent and five discontented or frightened, 
the storming of the Etham lines would have cost streams 
of blood and would have risked all that they had already 
gained. 

The conquest of the little garrison in the storehouse at 
Pithom happened under such favorable circumstances as 
they could not expect to occur again, and so the original 
plan had to be altered and an attempt made to get round 
the* fortress. Instead of marching north-east the people 
turned toward the south. 

These things were discussed under the sycamore tree in 
front of Aminadab’s house, and Miriam listened, a mute 
witness. 

When the men held counsel, the women, and she a Isa, 
had to be silent, but she found it hard to hold her peace 
when they came to the conclusion that they must avoid 
attacking the forts, even if Joshua, the man skilled in war 
and chosen by the Lord Himself to be the sword of Jeho- 
vah, should return. 

“ Of what avail is the bravest leader when there is no 
army to obey him ? ” cried Nahshon, the son of Amina- 
dab, and the rest had been of his opinion. 


94 


JOSHUA. 


When at length the assembled elders parted Moses took 
leave of his sister with brotherly tenderness. She knew 
that he had it in his mind to go forth into fresh dangers, 
and in the modest way she always used when she ventured 
to speak to the man who, in body and mind, was so far 
above all others, she told him of her fears. He looked 
her in the face with kindly reproof, and with right hand 
pointed to heaven. She understood him, and kissed his 
hand with grateful warmth, saying : “ Thou art under the 
shield of the Most High, and I fear no longer.” 

He pressed his lips to her brow, and taking her tablets 
from her, wrote on them a few words and cast them into 
the hollow stem of the sycamore. 

“ For Hosea — nay, for Joshua,” said he, “ if he should 
come while I am absent. The Lord hath great things for 
him to do when he shall have learned to trust in Him rather 
than in the mighty ones of the earth.” 

He quitted her ; but Aaron, who, as being the elder, 
was the head of the family, remained with Miriam and told 
her that a worthy man had asked for her to wife ; she 
turned pale and answered : “ I know it.” 

He looked her in the face much surprised, and went on 
in a tone of grave warning : 

“ It must be as you will, but it would be well that you 
should reflect that your heart belongs to God and to your 
people ; the man whom you marry must be as ready as 
yourself to serve them both, for two become one when 
they are wed, and if the highest aim of one is as nought to 
the other they are no more one, but two. The voice of 
the senses which called them together is presently silent, 
and what remains is a gulf between them.” 

With these words he left her, and she, too, turned to 
quit the assembly, for perhaps now, on the eve of their 
departing, she might be needed in the house of which she 
was an inmate ; but a new incident arose to keep her by 
the sycamore, as if she were bound and fettered to it. 

What could the packing matter, and the care for perish- 
able treasure and worldly goods, when questions here were 
raised which stirred her whole soul. There was Elisheba, 
Nahshon’s wife, and any housewife or slave woman could 
do the home work ; here there were other matters to de- 
cide, the weal or woe of the nation. 

Certain men of the better sort from among the people 


JOSHUA . 


95 

had by this time joined themselves to the elders under the 
sycamore, but Hur had depared with Moses. 

Now Uri, the son of Hur, came into the group. He, as 
a metal worker, but just come from Egypt, had at Mem- 
phis had dealings with many about the court, and he had 
heard that the king would be willing to relieve the Hebrews 
of their heaviest burdens, and to grant them new privi- 
leges, if only Moses would entreat the God he served to 
be favorable to Pharaoh, and persuade the people to return 
so soon as they should have sacrificed in the desert. So 
the assembly now proceeded to discuss whether envoys 
should not be sent to Tanis to treat once more with the 
“ High Gate.” 

This proposal, which he had not, indeed, dared to lay 
before his father, had been made by Uri in all good faith 
to the assembled elders, and he hoped that its acceptance 
might save the Hebrews much suffering. But hardly had 
he ended his very clear and persuasive speech when old 
Nun, Joshua’s father, who had with difficulty ‘held his 
peace, started up in wrath. 

The old man’s face, usually so cheerful, was crimson 
with anger, and its deep hue was in strange contrast with 
the thick, white hair which hung about it. Only a short 
while since he had heard Moses reject similar proposals 
with stern decision and the strongest arguments ; and now 
must he hear them repeated. And by many signs of 
approval on the part of those assembled he saw that the 
great undertaking for which he, more than any one, had 
staked and sacrificed his all, was imperilled. It was too 
much for the vehement old man, and it was with a flashing 
eye and threatening fists that he exclaimed : 

“ What words are these ? Shall we reknit the ends of 
the cord which the Lord our God hath cut? Are we to 
tie it, do you say, with a knot so loose that it will hold 
just so long as the present mood of an irresolute weakling, 
who has broken his word to Moses and to us a score of 
times ? Would you have us return into the cage from 
which the Almighty hath released us by a miracle ? Are 
we to stand before the Lord our God as false debtors ? 
Shall we take the false gold which is offered us rather 
than the royal treasure which He hath promised us ? Oh, 
man ! You who have come from the Egyptian ! I would 
I could ” 


JOSHUA. 


96 


And the fierce old man shook his fist ; but before he 
had spoken the threat which was on his lips he ceased and 
his arm fell, for Gabriel, the elder of the tribe of Zebulon, 
called out : 

“ Remember your own son, who at this day is still con- 
tent to dwell among the enemies of Israel ! ” 

The blow had told ; but it was only for a moment that 
the fiery patriarch’s high spirit was quelled. Above the 
hubbub of voices which rose in disapproval of Gabriel’s 
malice, and the lesser number who took part with him, 
Nun’s was heard : “ It is by reason of the fact that, besides 
the loss of the ten thousand acres of land which I have left 
behind, I may, perchance, have also to sacrifice my noble 
son in obedience to the word of the Lord, that I have a 
right to speak my mind.” His broad breast heaved sorrow- 
fully as he spoke, and now his eyes, beneath their thick, 
white brows, fell with a milder gleam on the son of Hur, 
who had turned pale under this violent address, and he 
went on : “ This man is indeed a good son and obedient 
to his father, and he, too, has made a sacrifice, for he has 
come away from his work, in which he won great praise, 
and from his home in Memphis, and the blessing of the 
Lord rest upon him ! But inasmuch as he has obeyed that 
bidding, he ought not to try to undo that which, by the 
Lord’s help, we have begun. And to you, Gabriel, I say 
that my son is of a surety not content to dwell with the 
enemy ; nay, that he will obey my voice and join himself 
to us, even as Uri, the first-born son of Hur. Whatever 
keeps him back, it is some good reason of which Joshua need 
not be ashamed, nor I, his father. I know him. I trust 
him for that ; and he who looks for aught else from him 
will of a surety, by my son’s dealings, sooner or later, be 
shown to be a liar.” 

He ceased, pushing his white hair back from his heated 
brow ; and as no more contradicted him he turned again 
to the metal worker, saying with hearty kindness : “ It was 
not your meaning, Uri, which roused my ire. Your will is 
good ; but you have measured the greatness and glory of 
the God of our fathers by the standard of the false gods of 
the Egyptians, who perish and revive again, and, as Aaron 
has said, are but a small part of Him who is in all and 
through all above all. Till Moses showed me the way I, 
too, believed I was serving the Lord by slaying an ox, a 


JOSHUA. 


97 


lamb or a goose on an altar, as the Egyptians do, and 
now, if your eyes are opened, as mine were by Moses, to 
behold Him who rules the world and who hath chosen us 
to be His people, you, like me and all of us — yea, and ere 
long my own son — will feel the fire kindled for sacrifice in 
your own hearts — a fire that never dies out, and consumes 
everything which does not turn to love and truth and faith 
and worship of Him. For the Lord hath promised us great 
things by the word of His servant Moses : Redemption 
from bondage, that we may be free lords and masters 
henceforth on our own soil and in a fair land which is ours 
and our children’s forever ! We are on our way to this 
gift, and whosoever would delay us on our way, or desires us 
to return and crawl back into the net whose meshes of 
brass we have burst asunder, counsels the people to become 
as sheep who leap back into the fire from which they have 
escaped. I am not wroth with you now, for I read in your 
face that you know how greatly you have erred, but hereby 
ye all shall know that I heard from the lips of Moses but a 
few hours since that whosoever shall counsel a return or any 
covenant with the Egyptians, he himself will accuse as 
condemning the Lord Jehovah our God, and as the des- 
troyer and foe of his people.” 

At this Uri went up to the old man, held out his hand, 
and, deeply persuaded in his heart of the justice of his 
reproof, exclaimed : “ No dealings, no covenant with the 

Egyptians ! And I am grateful to you, Nun, for having 
opened my eyes. The hour is at hand when you, or 
another who stands nearer to Him than I, shall teach me 
to know more perfectly the God who is my God likewise.” 

Hereupon he went away with the old man, who leaned 
his arm upon his shoulder. 

Miriam had listened with breathless eagerness to Uri’s 
last appeal, and when he gave utterance to the wish to 
know more perfectly the God of his fathers, her eyes shone 
with inspired ecstasy. She felt that her spirit was full of 
the greatness of the Most High, and that she had the gift of 
speech wherewith to make known to others the knowledge 
she herself possessed. But the custom of her people 
required her to be silent. Her heart burned within her, and 
when she had again mingled with the crowd, and assured 
herself that Joshua was not yet come, as it was now dusk 
she went up to the roof, there to sit with the others. 

7 


9 8 


JOSHUA. 


None seemed to have missed her, not even poor, forlorn 
Milcah, and she felt herself alone indeed in this house. If 
Joshua might but come. If only she might find a strong 
breast on which to lean, if this sense of being a stranger 
among her kindred might have an end — this useless life 
under the roof which she must call her home, although she 
had never felt at home there ! 

Moses and Aaron, her brothers, had departed, and had 
taken with them Hur’s grandson ; and she, who lived and 
breathed only for her people and their well-being, had not 
been found worthy to be told more particularly whither 
they were faring, or to what end. Ah ! why had the 
Almighty, to whom she had devoted herself, body and soul, 
given her the spirit and mind of a man in the form of a 
woman ? 

She waited awhile as if to see whether, of all this circle 
of kind hearts, her kith and kin, there was not one to love 
her, listening to the chatter of old and young who sur- 
rounded her ; but Eleazar’s children gathered about their 
grandparents, and she had never had the art of attracting 
the little ones. Dame Elisheba was directing the slaves 
who were putting the finishing touches to the baggage. 
Milcah sat with a cat in her lap, gazing into vacancy, and 
the bigger lads were out of doors. No one noticed her or 
spoke to her. 

Bitter sorrow fell upon her. After eating her supper 
with the others, making a great effort not to cast the gloom 
of her own dark mood over the happy excitement of the 
children, who looked forward with great glee to their 
departing, she felt she must get out into the free air. 

Veiling her face closely, she crossed the camp alone. 
But the scenes she saw there were ill-fitted to lift the burden 
that weighed upon her. It was still astir, and although 
here and there pious songs rang out, full of triumph and 
hope, there was more quarreling to be heard, and rebellious 
uproar. Whenever threats or reviling against her great 
brothers met her ear she hastened forward, but she could 
not run away from her anxiety as to what might happen at 
sunrise, when the people were to set forth, if the malcon- 
tents gained the upper hand. She knew that the multitude 
must necessarily move onward ; still she had never been 
able to subdue her fears of Pharaoh’s mighty army. It was 
personified to her in Joshua’s heroic form. If the Lord of 


JOSHUA . 


99 


Hosts Himself were not with the ranks of these wretched 
bondsmen and shepherds who were squabbling and fighting 
all about her, how should they be able to stand against the 
tried and well-armed troops of Egypt, with their chariots 
and horses ? 

She had heard that men had been placed on guard at 
every part of the camp, and ordered to blow a blast on a 
horn or drum or a metal plate in the event of the enemy’s 
approach, till the Hebrews should have come together at 
the spot where the alarm should be first sounded. 

She stood for some time listening for some such call, but 
yet more eagerly for the hoofs of a solitary horse, the firm 
tread and the deep voice of the warrior for whom she 
longed. 

Looking for him she made her way to the northern side 
of the camp next the road to Tanis, where, too, by Moses' 
order the larger portion of the fighting men had pitched 
their tents. Here she had hoped to find nothing but con- 
fidence ; but as she listened to the talk of the men-at-arms, 
who sat in large parties round the watch-fires, she shuddered 
to hear that Uri’s counsel had reached even to them. 
Many of them were husbands and fathers, had left a house 
or a plot of land, a business or an office, and although 
many spoke of the commands of the Lord, and of the fair 
land promised them by God, others were minded to turn 
back. She would gladly have gone among them and have 
called upon these blind hearts to obey the bidding of the 
Lord and of her brother. But here again she must keep 
silence. However, she might at any rate listen, and she 
was most tempted to linger where she might expect to hear 
rebellious words and counsels. 

There was a mysterious charm in this painful excitement. 
She felt as though she had been robbed of a pleasure when 
the fires died out, the men retired to rest and silence fell. 

Now, for the last time, she gazed out on the way from 
Tanis, but nothing stirred except the watch pacing to and 
fro. 

As yet she did not despair of Joshua’s coming, for the 
bidding she had sent him, in the full conviction that it was 
the Lord Himself who had chosen her to deliver it, must 
certainly have reached him ; now, however, as she read in 
the stars that it was past midnight, she began to reflect 
how many years he had dwelt among the Egyptians, and 


IOO 


JOSHUA. 


that he might think it unworthy of a man to hearken to the 
call of a woman, even when she spoke in the name of the 
Most High. She had endured much humiliation this day ; 
why should not this also be hanging over her ? To the man 
she loved, likewise, she ought, perhaps, to have kept 
silence, and have left it to her brothers to declare the 
Lord’s behests to him. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

Much disturbed and grieved by such thoughts as these, 
Miriam turned her steps homeward to retire to rest ; but 
as she reached the threshold she stayed her steps and 
listened once more, gazing northward whence Joshua must 
Come. Nothing was to be heard but the tramp of a 
watchman and the voice of Hur, as he went the rounds 
of the camp with a company of armed men. He, too, 
had found it impossible to rest within. 

The night was mild and bright with stars, the hour meet 
for silent dreaming under the sycamore. Her seat was 
vacant under the ancient tree, so, with a bowed head, she 
made her way to the favorite spot which on the morrow 
she must quit forever. But she had not reached the bench 
when she suddenly stopped, raised her head, and pressed 
her hand to her panting bosom. She had heard the tramp 
of hoofs, she was sure of it, and the sound came from the 
north. Were the chariots of Pharaoh hurrying down to 
fall upon the Hebrew camp ? Should she shout to wake 
the men-at-arms ? Or could it indeed be he whom she so 
passionately longed for ? Yes, yes. It was the step of a 
single horse, and it must be some new arrival, for there 
was a stir among the tents, and clapping of hands and 
shouts and eager talking came nearer and nearer as the 
horseman approached. 

It was Joshua, she felt certain. 

That he should have ridden forth through the night and 
torn asunder the ties which bound him to Pharaoh and his 
brethren in arms was a proof of his obedience. Love had 
steeled his will and lent speed to his steed, and the thanks 
which love alone can give, the reward which love alone can 
bestow, should no longer be withheld from him. He 


JOSHUA . 


ior 


should learn in her arms that, though he had given up 
much, it was to earn something sweeter and fairer. She 
felt as though the night about her was as bright as noonday, 
when her ear told her that the rider was making straight 
for Aminadab’s dwelling. By that she knew that it was 
her call that had brought him to seek her before going to 
his father, who had found a lodging in the empty, roomy 
house belonging to his grandson Ephraim. 

Joshua would gladly have flown to her side as fast as his 
horse could carry him, but it was not safe to ride at too 
brisk a pace through the camp. Oh, how long the 
minutes seemed till at last she saw the horseman, till he 
leaped from the saddle, and his companion flung the reins 
to another man who came behind. 

It was, indeed, Joshua. But his comrade — whom she 
saw quite plainly, and started at the sight — was Hur, th.e 
very man who a few hours since had asked her to be his 
wife. 

There they stood, side by side in the starlight, the two 
men ner suitors, their figures lighted up the blazing pine 
torches which were still burning by the carts and litters 
where they stood ready for the next morning’s march. 

The elder Hebrew, a splendid man, was much taller than 
the younger and no less strongly built warrior, and the lord 
of many herds held his head no less high than the Egyptian 
hero. Both spoke with grave decision ; but her lover’s 
voice was the deeper and fuller. Now they were so close 
to her that she could hear what they were saying. 

Hur was telling the newcomer that Moses had gone 
forth to reconnoitre, and Joshua expressed his regret, as 
he had a matter of importance to discuss with him. 

In that case he would have to set forth with them at 
daybreak, Hur observed, for Moses thought to meet the 
people on the way. Then he pointed to the house of 
Miriam’s protector, Aminadab, which lay in total darkness, 
unbroken by a single twinkling light, and desired Joshua 
to come with him and spend the remainder of the night 
under his roof, for no doubt he would fain not rouse his 
father at so late an hour. At this, as Miriam saw, her 
friend hesitated and looked inquiringly up at the women’s 
rooms and the roof, and then, knowing whom he sought 
and unable any longer to resist the impulse of her heart, 
she went forward from under the shadow of the sycamore 


102 


JOSHUA . 


and warmly bid Joshua welcome. He, too, scorned to 
conceal the joy of his heart, and Hur, standing by, saw the 
reunited pair clasp hands, at first in silence and then with 
eager words of greeting. 

“ I knew that you would come ! ” cried Miriam, and 
Joshua replied with glad emotion: “That you might 
easily know, O prophetess, for one of the voices that bid 
me hither was your own.” Then he added more calmly : 
“ I hoped to find your brother here with you, for I am the 
bearer of a message of the greatest importance to him, to 
us and to the people. I find all made ready for departing, 
and I should be sorry if your venerable protectors were 
roused from their rest and hurried forward to a perilous 
adventure which it still seems possible to avert.” 

“ You mean ? ” asked Hur, and he came closer. 

“ I mean,” replied Joshua, “ that if Moses persists in 
leading the multitude forth eastward, there will be much 
useless bloodshed to-morrow, for I heard at Tanis that the 
garrisons of Etham have orders not to let a single man 
pass, much less this countless multitude, whose numbers 
dismayed me as I rode through the camp. I know Apoo, 
who commands the place, and the legions who serve under 
him. There will be a fearful and fruitless butchery among 
our unarmed and undisciplined tribes — in short I must 
speak strongly to Moses, and immediately, to avert the 
worst, before it is too late.” 

“ We have not failed to fear all that you can warn us of,” 
replied Hur, “ and it is expressly to avert it that Moses has 
set forth on a perilous journey.” 

“Whither?” asked Joshua. 

“ That is the secret of the leaders of the people.” 

“ Among them my father ? ” 

“ No doubt, and I am ready to lead you to him. If he 
thinks fit to inform you ” 

“ If that is contrary to his duty he will be silent. Who 
leads the marching host to-morrow ? ” 

“ I do.” 

“ You ? ” cried Joshua in surprise, and the other quietly 
replied : 

“You are amazed that a shepherd should be so bold as 
to lead an army, but the Lord God of Hosts, in whom we 
put our trust, is indeed our captain, and I look for His 
guidance.” 


JOSHUA. 


103 


u It is well,” replied Joshua, “but I too believe that the 
God of our fathers, who called me hither by the voice of 
Miriam, has intrusted me with a message of great impor- 
tance. I must find Moses before it is too late.” 

“You have been told that till to-morrow, or even till the 
day after, he is beyond our reach, even mine. ' Will you 
meanwhile speak with Aaron ? ” * 

Is he in the camp ? ” 

“ No ; but we look for his return before the departing of 
the people — that is to say, in a few hours.” 

“ Has he the right of deciding questions of importance in 
the absence of Moses ? ” 

“ No ; he only delares to the people in eloquent words 
that which his great brother commands.” 

At this the disappointed warrior gazed thoughtfully on 
the ground ; but after a moment’s reflection he eagerly 
went on : “ It is to Moses that the Lord our God declares 
His will ; but to you, too, his noble, virgin sister, to you, 
too, the Most High reveals himself.” 

“Oh, Joshua!” the prophetess broke in, lifting her 
hands to him with an imploring and deprecating gesture ; 
but the captain paid no heed to her interruption, and went 
on in an earnest tone : “ The Lord God charged you to 
call me, His servant, back to His people. He commanded 
you to give me the name I am to bear instead of that given 
me by my father and mother, and which I have borne in 
honor for thirty years. In obedience to your bidding I 
have cast from me all that could make me great among 
men. It was when I was in the way to face death in Egypt, 
with my God and your image in my heart, that the message 
came to me which I am here to deliver, and I therefore 
believe that it was laid upon me by the Most High. I am 
constrained to deliver it to the leader of the nation ; so, as 
I cannot find Moses, I can do no better than to deliver it 
to you, who, next to your brother, dwells nearest to God. 

I pray you now to hear me ; but the words I have to speak 
are not yet ripe for any third hearer. At this Hur drew 
himself up. Breaking in on Joshua’s speech he asked 
Miriam whether it was her desire to hear what the son of 
Nun should say without witnesses, and she replied in a 
low voice, “ Yes.” 

Hur turned to the warrior and said, with cold pride : 
“ I believe that Miriam knows the will of the Lord and 


104 


JOSHUA . 


likewise her brother’s, and that she is aware of what beseems 
a woman of Israel. If I am not mistaken it was under 
this very tree that your own father, the venerable Nun, 
repeated to my son Uri the only reply which Moses will 
give to the bearer of such message as yours.” 

“ Do you know it, then ? ” asked the soldier, sternly. 

“ No,” replied the other, “ but I guess its purport. See 
here.” He stooped with youthful agility, raised two large 
stones so that they supported each other, rolled a few 
smaller stones into a heap around them, and then, in 
breathless eagerness, he spoke as follows : 

“ This heap shall be a witness between me and thee, 
like the heap of Mizpah which Laban and Jacob made 
when Laban called upon the Lord to watch between him 
and Israel : so do I now, and I show thee this heap that 
thou mayest remember it when we are absent one from 
another. I lay my hand on this heap of stones, and I 
declare that I, Hur, the son of Caleb and Ephratah, put 
my trust in none other but only in the Lord, the God of 
our fathers, and am ready to do His bidding by which He 
calleth us out of the land of Pharaoh to the land which He 
hath promised us. And thou, Joshua, the son of Nun, do 
I ask, and the Lord our God heareth thee : Dost thou look 
for any help other than that of the God of Abraham, who 
chose thy nation to be His own people? Moreover, thou 
shalt answer and say whether henceforth thou wilt hold 
the Egyptians who oppressed us, and out of whose hand 
the Lord our God hath promised to redeem us, as the foes 
forever of thy God and thy people ? ” 

There was a dark look in the warrior’s bearded face, and 
he was inclined to kick down the heap of stones and 
dismiss the overbold questioner with a wrathful reply ; but 
Miriam had laid her hand on the top of the heap, and, 
seizing his right hand, she cried : 

“ He inquires of thee in the sight of our God and Lord 
who is our witness ! ” 

Joshua was able to control his wrath, and pressing the 
maiden’s hand as he held it he answered with due solemnity : 
“ He asks me, but I cannot answer him ; for ‘ yea ’ and 
‘ nay ’ say little in this case. Yet I call God to witness on 
my part, and here by this heap of stones you, Miriam, 
shall hear what I have in my mind and wherefor I am 
come. And thou, Hur, see here ! Like thee I lay my hand 


JOSHUA. 


io 5 

on the heap and testify that I, Joshua, the son of Nun, put 
my trust in none other but' only ip the Lord God of our 
fathers. He shall stand between thee and me as a witness, 
and decide whether my way is His way or the way of an 
erring man. I will walk in His way as He hath declared it 
to Moses and to this noble maiden. That I swear with an 
oath, and to that God be my witness.” 

Hur had listened eagerly, and now, persuaded by the 
gravity of Joshua’s speech, he cried : 

“ The Lord our God hear mine oath ! And I, too, by 
this heap, will take an oath ! If the hour should come 
when, remembering this heap, thou shalt give the testimony 
which thou hast refused me, no wrath henceforth shall 
come between us ; and if it be the will of the Lord I 
will deliver into thy hands the leadership, for thou in many 
wars hast learned more skill than I, who have ruled only 
over herdsmen and flocks. And thou, Miriam, bear in 
mind that this heap is a witness of the words you twain 
shall speak here in the sight of God. Call to mind the 
wrathful words we heard spoken under this tree by this 
man’s father ; yea, and I call God to witness that I would 
have darkened the life of Uri, my beloved son, who is the 
joy of my heart, if he had spoken to the people to persuade 
them by the message which he delivered to us, for it would 
have turned away those of little faith from their God. 
Remember this, maiden, and again hear this : If thou 
needest me thou canst find me. The door I opened, come 
what may, will never be shut.” 

And he turned away from Miriam and the soldier. 

Something, they knew not what, had come over them. 
He, who all through his long ride, beset with many dangers, 
had longed with burning ardor for the moment which 
should see him reunited to the maid he loved, stood look- 
ing down in confusion and deep anxiety. Miriam, who, 
at his approach, had been ready to bestow on him all that 
a woman has of best and sweetest to reward truth and love 
withal, had sunk on the ground in front of the awful heap 
of stones close to the sycamore tree, and was pressing her 
head against its old hollow trunk. 


io6 


JOSHUA. 


CHAPTER XV. 

For some time nothing was to be heard under the sycamore 
but the young girl’s low sobbing and the impatient step of 
the warrior, who, while struggling for composure himself, 
did not venture to address her. He could ’not fully 
understand what this was that had suddenly come like a 
mountain between him and the woman he loved. 

He had learned from Hur’s speech that Moses and his 
own father had each, severally, rejected all mediation ; 
and yet to him the promises he was empowered to make 
seemed a grace and gift from Heaven. As yet none of his 
nation had heard them, and if Moses were the man he 
believed him, the Lord must of a surety open his eyes and 
show him that He had chosen Joshua to guide the people 
to a happier future : nor did he doubt that he could easily 
win over his father, Nun. It was in full conviction that 
he had again sworn that it was indeed the Most High who 
had shown him this way ; and after thinking all this over 
as Miriam at length rose, he went toward her with renewed 
hope. The love in his heart prompted him to clasp her 
in his arms ; but she drew back, and her voice, usually so 
pure and full, sounded harsh and husky as she asked him 
wherefore he had tarried so long, and what it was that he 
purposed to reveal to her. 

As she knelt under the sycamore she had not merely 
been praying and struggling for composure ; she had 
looked into her soul. She loved Joshua, but her heart 
misgave her that he had some proposal to make such as 
Uri’s, and old Nun’s wrathful words rang in her ears louder 
than ever. Her fear lest her lover had gone astray into 
an evil way, and Hur’s startling proceedings, had lulled 
the surges of her passion ; and her spirit, brought back to 
calmer reflection, now craved above all else to know what 
could so long have detained him whom she had sent for in 
the name of the Lord, and wherefore he had come alone 
without Ephraim. The clear sky, glorious with stars, 
instead of looking down on the bliss of a pair of reunited 


JOSHUA. 


107 


lovers, was witness only to the anxious questioning of a 
terrified woman and the impatient answers of a hot- 
spirited and bitterly-disappointed man. He began by 
urging his love, and that he had come to make her his wife, 
but she, though she suffered him to hold her hand, im- 
plored him to postpone his wooing, and to tell her first all 
she wanted to know. 

On his way hither he had heard news of Ephraim from 
a fellow-soldier from Tanis. He was therefore able to tell 
her that he had gone into the town in disobedience to 
orders, sick and weary as he was, and moved, it would 
seem, by curiosity, and that he had found care and shelter 
under a friendly roof. This, however, did not comfort 
Miriam, who blamed herself as she thought of the 
inexperienced and fatherless lad, who had grown up under 
her own eyes, and whom she herself had sent forth among 
strangers, as a guest under an Egyptian’s roof. However, 
Joshua assured her that he would take upon himself to 
bring the boy back to his people, and when she still was 
not satisfied he asked her whether he had indeed lost all 
her trust and love. But she, instead of giving him a word 
of comfort, began to question him further, desiring to know 
what had delayed his coming, so he was forced to tell his 
tale, though greatly disturbed and cut to the heart, begin- 
ning in fact with the end of his story. 

While she listened to him, leaning against the trunk of 
the sycamore, he, distraught by love and impatience, paced 
up and down, or else, hardly able to control himself, stood 
close to her, face to face. At this moment nothing seemed 
to him worthy to be clothed in speech but the passion and 
the hopes which filled his being. Had he been convinced 
that her heart was estranged from him he would have fled 
from the camp as soon as he had unburdened his soul to 
his father, and have ridden away into the unknown in 
search of Moses. All he cared for was to win Miriam and 
to keep clear of dishonor ; and important as the events 
and hopes of the last few days had been, he answered her 
questions hastily, and as though the matters involved were 
but a light thing. He began his tale in broken sentences, 
and the oftener she interrupted him the more impatient 
he became and the deeper the frown which knit his 
brows. 

Joshua had been riding southward for some few hours, in 


io8 


JOSHUA. 


high spirits and full of blossoming hopes, when shortly 
before dusk he perceived a large crowd of men marching 
on in front of him. At first he had taken them to be the 
rear guard of the fugitive Hebrews, and he had hastened 
his horse’s pace. But before he came up with the wan- 
derers some peasant folk and drivers, leaving their carts 
and beasts of burden in the lurch, had flown to met him 
with loud shrieks and shouts of warning, telling him that 
the troops in front were the multitude of lepers. And their 
warning was but too well justified, for the first who met 
him with the heart-breaking cry, “ Unclean ! unclean ! ” 
bore the tokens of those who were a prey to the terrible 
disease, their dull eyes staring at him from faces devoid of 
eyebrows and covered with the white, scurfy dust peculiar 
to leprosy. 

Joshua presently recognized one and another of them, 
among them here and there an Egyptian priest with shaven 
head, and Hebrew men and women. He questioned them 
with the calm severity of a warrior chief, and learned that 
they had come from the quarries opposite Memphis, their 
place of exile on the eastern shore of the Nile. Certain 
Hebrews among them had heard that their people had fled 
from Egypt to seek a land which the Lord had promised 
them. On this, many had determined to put their trust in 
the mighty God of their fathers and to follow the wander- 
ing tribes ; and the Egyptian priests even, whose affliction 
had cast in their lot with the Hebrews, had set forth with 
them, fixing on Succoth as the goal of their wanderings, 
whither, as they heard, Moses was first to lead the people. 
But everyone who might have told them the road had fled 
at their approach. Thus they had gone too far to the 
northward, even almost as fas as the fortress of Tabnae. 
It was at a mile from that place that Joshua had overtaken 
them, and had counseled their leaders to return forthwith 
and not to bring misfortune on the host of their brethren. 
During their parley a company of Egyptian soldiers had 
come out from the citadel to meet the lepers and clear the 
road of their presence ; however, the captain, who knew 
Joshua, had used no force, and the two warriors had 
persuaded the leaders of the unclean to let themselves be 
guided to the peninsula of Sinai, where there was already 
a colony of lepers among the mountains, not far from the 
mines. They had yielded to this proposal because Joshua 


JOSHUA. 


109 


had promised them that if the Israelites wandered eastward 
they would visit them and receive all who should be 
healed ; but even if the Hebrews remained in Egypt the 
pure air of the desert would bring health to many sufferers, 
and every one who recovered was free to return to his 
people. 

All this consumed much time ; and then other delays 
had occurred, for as Joshua had been in such near neigh- 
borhood to the lepers he had been compelled to go to 
Tabnae, where he and the captairuof the troops, who had 
been with him, were sprinkled with the blood of birds, 
clothed in clean linen, and obliged to go through certain 
ceremonials which he himself had deemed necessary, and 
which could only be performed in broad sunlight. His 
squire had not been suffered to leave the citadel ; the soft- 
hearted fellow, seeing a kinsman among the hapless 
wretches, had clasped his hand. 

The cause of this detention was saddening and sicken- 
ing, and it was not till he had quitted Tabnae at noonday 
and turned his face toward Succoth that the hope and joy 
of seeing Miriam again, and of delivering so cheering a 
message, had revived in Joshua’s breast. 

Never had his heart beat higher with glad anticipation 
than as he rode on through the night, each step bringing 
him nearer to his father and his beloved, and at his 
journey’s end, instead of the highest bliss, naught had he 
found till now but the most cruel disappointment. 

He had related his meeting with the lepers briefly and 
reluctantly, although he had done, as he believed, what was 
best for these hapless folk. Any one of his fellow-soldiers 
would have had a word of praise for him, but she, whose 
approbation was dearer to him than all else, pointed, as he 
ended, to a certain spot in the camp, saying mournfully : 

“ They are of our blood ; our God is their God. The 
lepers of Zoan, Phakos and Phibeseth followed the rest at 
a reasonable distance, and their tents are pitched outside 
the camp. Those of Succoth likewise — they are not many 
— are to journey with them, and when the Lord promised 
the people the land for which they longed it was to great 
and small and poor alike, and, of a surety, to those poor 
wretches who now are left in the hands of the enemy. 
Would you not have done better to divide those of our 
race from the Egyptians and bring them hither ? ” 


no JOSHUA. 

At this the soldier’s manly pride rebelled, and his reply 
was grave and stern. 

“ In war a man learns to sacrifice hundreds that he may 
save thousands. Even the shepherd removes the rotten 
sheep to save the flock.” 

“Very true,” replied the girl eagerly, “ for the shepherd 
is but a man, who knows no remedy against the evil. But 
the Lord who hath called all His people will not suffer 
them to come to harm through obedience.” 

“So women think!” retorted Joshua. “But the 
counsels of compassion which move them must not be 
suffered to weigh too heavily in those of men. You are 
ready to follow the dictates of your heart, as indeed is 
most fitting, so long as you do not forget what beseems 
you and your sex. 

Miriam’s cheeks flushed crimson, for she felt the stab 
that was hidden in this speech with a double pang, since 
it was dealt by Joshua. How much had she this day been 
forced to renounce for her sex’s sake ? And now she 
was to be made to feel that she was not his equal, that she 
was but a woman. In the presence of the heap of stones 
which Hur had built up, and on which her hand at this 
moment rested, he had appealed to her judgment as 
though she were one of the leaders of the people ; and 
now he roughly set her in her place — her, who felt herself 
second to no man in gifts and in spirit. 

But he, too, had been wounded in his pride, and her 
demeanor warned him that this hour would decide whether 
in their future union he or she should get the mastery. He 
stood up in front of her in all his pride and high determi- 
nation — never, indeed, had she thought him so manly or 
so desirable. Yet the instinct to fight for her injured 
womanly dignity was stronger than any other impulse, and 
finally it was she who broke the painful silence which had 
followed his words of reproof. With a degree of composure 
which she only achieved by the exertion of her utmost 
power of will she began : 

“ But we are both forgetting what keeps us here at this 
hour of the night. You were to reveal to me what brought 
you hither, and to hear from my lips the judgment of the 
Lord — not that of Miriam, the foolish woman.” 

“ I had hoped to hear the voice of the maiden in whose 
love I trusted,” he gloomily replied. 


JOSHUA . 


hi 


“You shall hear it/’ she said, taking her hand from off 
the heap of stones. “ But it may befall that I cannot 
consent to the judgment of the man whose power and 
wisdom are so far greater than mine, and you have taught 
me that you cannot brook a woman’s contradiction — not 
even mine.” 

“Miriam!” he exclaimed, reproachfully, but she went 
on more vehemently : 

“ I have felt it deeply ; and as it would be the greatest 
sorrow of my life to lose your heart, you must understand 
me fully before you call upon me to pronounce judgment.” 

“ But first hear my message.” 

“ No — no ! ” she eagerly replied. “ The answer now 
would die on my lips. First, let me tell you of the woman 
who, though she has a loving heart, knows something 
which she holds far above love. You smile ? And you 
have a right to smile till you know that which I will reveal 
to you.” 

“ Speak, then ! ” he broke in, in a tone which betrayed 
how hard he felt it to keep patience. 

“ Thanks for that,” she said, warmly. Then, leaning 
against the tree trunk, while he sat down on the bench 
and looked into her face and now on the ground, she 
spoke : 

“ I have left childhood behind me, aye, and my youth 
will soon be a thing of the past. While I was still but a 
little child I was not very different from other girls. I 
played with them, and although my mother taught me to 
pray to the God of our fathers, still I was well content to 
hear what other children would tell me of Isis. As often 
as I could I would steal into her temple, buy spices and 
strip my little garden for her ; would pour oil on her altar 
and offer her flowers. I was taller and stronger than 
many maidens of my age, and the daughter of Amram to 
boot, so that the others were ready enough to obey me 
and do all I proposed. When I was eight years old we 
moved hither from Zoan. Before I had found a playfellow 
here you came to stay in the house of Gamaliel, your 
sister’s husband, to be healed of a wound from a Libyan’s 
lance. Do you remember that time, when you, a young 
man, made a comrade of the little girl ? I fetched you all 
you needed ; I chattered to you of all I knew, and you 
told me tales of bloody fights and victory, and described 


1 1 2 


JOSHUA. 


the splendid armor and the horses and chariots of the 
soldiers. You showed me the ring you had won by your 
valor, and when the wound in your breast was healed we 
wandered about the meadows together. 

*• Isis, whom you worshiped, had her temple here also, 
and how often would I steal secretly into its courts to pray 
for you and carry her my holiday cakes. I had heard so 
much from you of Pharaoh and his magnificence, of the 
Egyptians and their wisdom, skill and luxurious lives, that 
my little heart longed to dwell among them in the capital ; 
it had moreover come to my ears that my brother Moses 
had been treated with great kindness in the king’s palace, 
and had become a man held in high honor among the 
priesthood. I could no longer be content with my own 
folk, who seemed to me in all respects far behind the 
Egyptians. 

“ Then came the parting from you, and as my little 
heart was piously inclined, and looked for all good to 
come from divine power, by whatever name it was called, 
I prayed for Pharaoh and for his army with which you 
were fighting. 

“ My mother would sometimes speak of the God of our 
fathers as of a mighty Defense who had done great things 
of old for His people, and she told me many fine tales of 
Him ; still she herself often sacrificed in the temple of 
Set, or carried clover flowers to the sacred bull of the 
Sun-god. She had kind thoughts, too, of the Egyptians, 
among whom our Moses, her pride and joy, had risen to 
such high honor. 

“ Thus I came to be fifteen years old and lived happily 
with the rest. In the evening, when the herdsmen had 
come home, I sat round the fire with the young ones, and it 
pleased me when the sons of the great owners preferred 
me above the others and paid court to me ; but I rejected 
them all, even the Egyptian captain who commanded the 
guard in charge of the storehouse, for I always thought of 
you, the companion of my childhood. The best I had to 
give would not have seemed too much for a magic spell 
which might have brought you to my side, when at high 
festivals I danced and sang to the tambourine, and the 
loudest praise was always for me. Whenever I sang before 
others I thought of you, and as I did so I poured out all 
that filled my heart as a lark might, so that my song was 


JOSHUA. 


n 3 

to you and not to the praise of the Most High, to whom it 
was dedicated.” 

At this a fresh glow of passion possessed the man to 
whom his beloved confessed such gladdening truth. He 
sprang up and held out his arms to her, but she forbade 
him with stern severity, that she herself might remain mis- 
tress of the longing which threatened to be too much 
for her. 

Her deep voice had a different ring in it as she went on, 
at first quickly and softly, but presently louder and more 
impressively : 

“And so I came to be eighteen, and I could endure Suc- 
cotli no longer. An unutterable yearning, not for you only, 
came over my soul. Things that had formerly brought me 
joy now seemed empty, and the monotony of my life here 
in this remote frontier town, among flocks and herdsmen, 
seemed to me dreary and wretched. 

“ Eleazar, Aaron’s son, had taught me to read, and 
brought me books full of tales which could never have been 
true, but which nevertheless stirred my heart. Many of 
them contained praises of the gods and ardent songs, such 
as lovers sing one to another. These took deep hold on 
me, and when I was alone in the evening or at mid-day, 
when all was still and the shepherds and herdsmen were 
away at pasture, I would rehearse these songs or invent 
new, mostly hymns in praise of the Divinity, in honor of 
Amon, with his ram’s head, or of Isis, with the head of a 
cow ; but often, too, of the Almighty Lord who revealed 
Himself to Abraham, and of whom my mother spoke more 
often as she grew older. And this was what I loved best 
— to think in silence of such songs of praise, and wait for 
visions in which I saw God’s greatness and glory, or fair 
angels and hideous demons. From a merry child I had 
become a pensive maiden who let her life go as it might. 
There was no one to warn or to hinder me ; my parents 
were now dead, and I lived alone with my Aunt Rachel, a 
misery to myself and no joy to any one else. Aaron, my 
eldest brother, had gone to dwell with his father-in-law, 
Aminadab, for the old home of Amram, his inheritance, 
was too small for him, and he had bestowed it on me. My 
companions even avoided me, for all gladness had depart- 
ed from me, and I looked down upon them in sinful scorn 
because I could compose songs and see more in my 
visions than ever they saw. 


U4 


JOSHUA . 


“ Now I was nineteen, and on the eve of my birthday, 
which no one remembered save Milcah, Eleazar’s daughter, 
the Lord for the first time gave me a message. He 
appeared in the form of an angel and bid me set the house 
in order, for a guest was on the way whom I loved greatly. 

“ It was very early in the morning and I sat under this 
tree ; so I went into the house, and with old Rachel’s help 
I set the house in order and made ready a bed, and pre- 
pared a meal with wine and all that we welcome a guest 
withal. But noon came, and the afternoon and the even- 
ing became night, and the night morning again, and still I 
waited for the guest. However, as the sun was getting 
low that day the dogs began to bark loudly, and when I 
went forth to the gate a tall man came hurrying toward me. 
His hair was grey and in disorder, and he wore a priest’s 
white robe all in tatters. The dog shrank from him 
whining, but I knew him for my brother Moses. 

“ Our meeting again after such a long time brought me 
more fear than pleasure, for Moses was fleeing from his 
pursuers because he had slain the overseer. But this you 
know. 

“ Wrath still flashed from his sparkling eyes. He 
appeared to me to resemble the god Set, and each of his 
slow words was engraved on my mind as with a hammer 
and chisel. He remained three times seven days and nights 
under my roof, and since I was alone with him and deaf 
Rachel — for he had to remain hidden — no one came be- 
tween us, and he taught me to know Him who is the God 
of our fathers. I listened to his burning words with fear 
and trembling, and his weighty speech fell, as it seemed to 
me, like rocks upon my breast when he impressed on me 
what the Lord God expected of me, or when he described 
the wrath and the greatness of Him whom no mind can com- 
prehend, and whose name none may utter. Yes, when he 
spoke of Him and of the Egyptian gods, it appeared as 
though the God of Israel stood forth like a giant whose 
brow touched the heavens ; while the other gods all 
crouched at his feet in the dust like whimpering hounds. 

“ He also taught me that we alone, and no others, were 
the Lord’s chosen people. Now, for the first time, I was 
filled with pride that I was a scion of Abraham, and that 
every Hebrew was my brother and every daughter of 
Israel my sister. Now, too, I understood how cruelly 


JOSHUA. 


TI 5 


those of my own kindred had been tortured and oppressed. 
I had hitherto been blind to the anguish of my people, but 
Moses opened my eyes and sowed the seeds of hatred in 
my heart — a great hatred of the tyrants of my brethren ; 
and from that hatred grew love for the oppressed. I 
vowed that I would cling to my brother and wait on the 
voice of the Lord, and, behold ! He did not tarry ; the 
voice of Jehovah spoke to me as with tongues. 

“ About that time old Rachel died, and by Moses’ desire 
I did not live alone, but followed the bidding of Aaron and 
Aminadab and became a guest under their roof. Still, even 
then I lived a life apart. Nor did they hinder me ; and 
this sycamore in their field became, as it were, my place. 
It was under its shade that God bid me call thee and name 
thee Holpen of Jehovah — and thou, Joshua, and no 
longer Hosea, hast done the bidding of the Lord thy God 
and of His prophetess ! ” 

At this point the soldier interrupted the damsel’s tale, 
to which he had listened earnestly, though with growing 
disappointment. 

“ Yes,” he said, “ I obeyed you and the Lord God ! 
What it cost me to do so you care not to inquire. You 
have told all your story down to the present hour, but you 
have nothing to say of the days you spent with us as our 
guest at Tanis after my mother’s death. Can you forget 
what your eyes first told me there, and then your lips ? 
Has the day of our parting vanished from your memory, 
and the evening on the sea when you bid me set my hopes 
on you and remember you ? Did the hatred which Moses 
implanted in your heart exclude all else, even love? ” 

“ Even love ? ” cried Miriam, raising her tearful eyes to 
his face. u Oh, no ! How could I ever forget that time, 
the happiest of my life ? But from the day when Moses 
came from the desert to redeem the people from bondage 
by the command of the Lord — it was three months after 
your departing — from that day I have lost all count of 
years and months, days and nights.” 

“And you will forget this night?” asked Joshua, 
bitterly. 

“ Nay, not so,” said Miriam, looking beseechingly in his 
face. “ The love which grew up in the child’s heart and 

did not fade in the girl’s can never die Here she 

suddenly broke off, raised her hands and eyes to heaven as 


JOSHUA. 


116 

if wrapt in ecstasy, and cried aloud : “ Thou art nigh to 

me, great God Almighty, and canst read my heart ! Thou 
knowest wherefor Miriam counts no more by days and 
years, and asks only to be Thy handmaid until Thou hast 
granted to her people, who is this man’s people, that 
which Thou hast promised !” 

While the maiden was uttering this prayer, which came 
from the very bottom of her heart, a light breeze had sprung 
up, the herald of dawn, and the thick, leafy crown of the 
sycamore tree whispered above her head. Joshua devoured 
her tall, majestic figure with his eyes as she stood half 
lighted and half shrouded in the doubtful gleam of dawn, 
for the things he saw and heard seemed to him as a miracle. 
The tidings of great joy to which she looked forward for 
her people, and which must be accomplished before she 
would allow herself to follow the desires of her heart, he 
believed himself to be the bearer of in the name of the 
Lord. Carried away by the high flight of her spirit, he 
hastened to her side, seized her hand and cried with hope- 
ful excitement : 

“The hour has come when you may once more tell day 
from night and hearken to the wishes of your heart. For 
I, Joshua, no more Hosea, came at the message of the Lord, 
and the message I bear brings new happiness to the people 
whom I will learn to love as you love them, and, if it be the 
will of the Most High, a new and better land.” 

Miriam’s eyes flashed with gladness. Carried away by 
thankful joy, she cried : 

“ Are you, then, come to lead us to the land Jehovah hath 
promised us ? Oh, Lord, how great are Thy mercies ! He 
— he comes as Thy messenger.” 

“ Yea, he comes ; he is here ! ” cried Joshua, rapturously, 
and she did not prevent him as he clasped her to his breast. 
With a thrill of joy she returned his ardent kis 


CHAPTER XVI. 

Frightened at her own weakness, Miriam presently freed 
herself from her lover’s arms, but she was ready to listen 
with eager gladness to his tale of a fresh mercy vouchsafed 
by the Most High, and his brief account of all he had done 
and felt since he had received her call, 


JOSHUA . 


ll 7 

t First, he described how terribly he had been divided in 
his mind ; how then he had found entire faith, and in 
obedience to the God of his nation and to his father’s appeal 
had gone to the palace, facing the risk of imprisonment or 
death, to be released of his oath. Next he told her how 
graciously the mourning sovereigns had received him, and 
how finally he had taken upon himself the office of appeal- 
ing to the leader of his people and persuading him to take 
the Hebrews only a short way into the desert, and then 
bring them home again to Egypt, where a new and splendid 
province should be granted them on the west of the Nile. 
Henceforth no Egyptian overseer should oppress them; 
their own elders should be permitted to rule them, and a 
man of their own choosing should govern them. 

To conclude, he observed that he himself was minded to 
become the captain of the Hebrew fighting men, and also 
to mediate and smooth matters between them and the 
Egyptians whenever it might seem needful. Happily 
united to her in that new home, he would extend his care 
to the humblest of his brethren. On his way hither he had 
felt as though, after a furious fight, the blasts of the trumpets 
proclaimed victory. And, indeed, he had a right to believe 
himself a messenger and ambassador from the Lord. 

Here, however, he interrupted himself, for Miriam, who 
at first had listened to him with anxious ears and flashing 
eyes, had heard him, as he proceeded, with a more and 
more anxious and troubled mien. And when he spoke of 
his hope that they might together do much for their people, 
she drew away her hand, gazed with terror into his hand- 
some face glowing with glad excitement, and then cast down 
her eyes as if striving for self-control. 

Unsuspicious of what had moved her thus, he went closer 
to her. He deemed that it was maidenly shyness that held 
her silent at having yielded a first favor to the man she 
loved. But when she shook her head disapprovingly at his 
last words, announcing his commission as God’s messenger, 
he was almost beside himself with cruel disappointment, 
and exclaimed vehemently : 

“ Then do you believe that the Lord hath defended me, 
as by a miracle, against the wrath of the mighty, and given 
me grace to win for His people, from the hand of the great 
king, such boons as never before did the strong vouchsafe 
to the weak, only to trifle with the happy trustfulness of a 
man whom He Himself called to serve Him?” 


Ii8 JOSHUA. 

At this she interrupted him in a woful voice, with difficulty 
restraining her tears : 

“ The strong to the weak ! If this is your thought you 
force me to ask you in your own father’s words : ‘ Who, 
then, is the mightier, the Lord our God or that poor crea- 
ture on the throne, whose first-born has perished at a sign 
from the Most High as grass is cut down and withered ? * 
Oh, Hosea, Hosea ! ” 

“ Nay, Joshua,” he wildly exclaimed. “ Do you refuse 
me the name which your God bestowed on me ? I trusted 
in His aid when I entered the palace of the great king ; I 
sought redemption and release for the nation under God’s 
guidance, and I found them, and you — you ” 

“ Moses and your father, aye, and all the faithful leaders 
of Israel, sees no redemption at the hand of the Egyptians,” 
she replied, with fluttering breath. “ All that they can 
bestow must bring destruction on Israel ; the grass that we 
have sown withers where the Egyptian treads. And you, 
whose honest soul they have but mocked at, you are the 
lure sent forth by the bird catcher to entice the birds into 
the net. You are, as it were, the hammer in their hand 
to rivet the fetters withal more firmly than ever, which we, 
by God’s help, have broken. With the eyes of the spirit I 


“ Enough ! Too much ! ” cried the warrior, grinding his 
teeth with rage. “ Hatred has clouded your clear soul. 
And if the bird catcher, as you would have it, is of a truth 
using me as his lure, and mocked at me and led me astray, 
it was from you, yes, you, that he has learned it. Encour- 
aged by you I built on your love and faithfulness ; of you 
I hoped everything. And that love — where is it? You 
have spared me nothing that could wound me, and I, 
likewise, will not spare myself, but confess the whole truth. 
It is not alone because the God of my fathers bid me, but 
because it was through you and my father that the call came 
to me, that I obeyed. You aspire after a land in the far 
unknown, promised by the Lord. I opened to my people 
the way to a certain and happy home. Nor was it for 
their sake, for what have my people ever done forme? 
But above all, that I might dwell there with you, whom I 
love, and with my old father, and you, whose cold heart 
knows not love, with my kiss on your lips, you reject the 
boon I offer out of hatred for the hand that has bestowed it 


JOSHUA. 


1 19 

on me. All your thoughts and deeds have become as those 
of a man, and all that other women prize most highly you 
spurn from you with your foot ! ” 

At this Miriam could bear no more. She clasped her 
hands over her quivering face, sobbing bitterly. 

By this time the sleeping tribes were awakening in 
the growingdawn. Serving men and women came forth 
from the houses of Aminadab and Nahshon. All, as they 
woke to a new day, made their way to the well or the 
drinking-troughs, but she heeded them not. 

How her heart had leaped and rejoiced when her lover 
had declared to her that he had come to lead them to the 
land which the Lord had promised to His people. She 
had rested so gladly on his bosom, to know for a moment 
that highest bliss, but how soon had it been turned to 
cruel disappointment ! While the morning breeze had 
rustled through the thick foliage of the sycamore, and 
while Joshua was telling her of Pharaoh’s promises to the 
people, it had seemed to her that the voice of God in His 
wrath was murmuring on the tree-tops, or that she heard 
once more the angry speech of old Nun. He had stormed 
at Uri like thunder and lightning, and wherein did 
Joshua’s proposals differ from Uri’s? 

The people, as she had heard from Moses himself, were 
lost if they failed in truth to their God and yielded to 
Pharaoh’s enticements. To ally herself with a man who 
had come to undo all for which her brothers and his own 
father had lived and struggled would be base treason. 
And yet she loved Joshua, and instead of repulsing him 
harshly, how willingly, ah, how gladly, would she again 
have lain on the heart which, as she knew, longed for her 
so ardently. 

But the murmur in the boughs still went on. She could 
fancy it was echoing Aaron’s words of warning, and she 
vowed to remain true, strong as the impulse was that drew 
her to her lover. The whispering in the tree was of a 
surety the voice of God, who had chosen her to be His 
handmaid. When Joshua had declared in his passionate 
excitement that the desire to possess her was what had 
prompted him to action on behalf of the people who to 
him were as indifferent as to her they were dear, she had 
suddenly felt her heart stand still, and she could not for- 
bear sobbing in her mental anguish. 


120 


JOSHUA. 


Heedless of Joshua or the awakening multitude, she 
flung herself again at the foot of the sycamore, with arms 
upraised to heaven, staring wide-eyed at the boughs, as 
though expecting some fresh revelation. The morning 
air sighed among the leaves, and suddenly it seemed as 
though a bright radiance shone not only in her soul, but 
all about her, as always happened when a vision was 
granted to her prophetic eye. And in the midst of the 
light, behold a figure, whose aspect terrified her while his 
name was whispered by every trembling leaf ; and the 
name was not Joshua, but that of another whom her heart 
could not desire. He stood in the blaze of glory before 
her mind’s eye, a tall, noble form, and, with a solemn ges- 
ture, laid his hand on the heap of stones he had made. 

Breathless with suspense she gazed at the vision ; and 
yet she would gladly have closed her eyes to avoid seeing 
it, and have shut her ears to the voice of the murmuring 
sycamore. Suddenly the glory was extinct, the figure had 
vanished, the voice of the leaves was hushed ; she saw 
before her, in a ruddier glow, the figure of the only man 
whose lips her own had ever kissed, sword in hand, rush- 
ing on an invisible foe at the head of his father’s herds- 
men. The vision came and was gone as swiftly as a flash 
of lightning; and yet, even before it had vanished, she 
knew all it meant to her. This man, whom she had 
named Joshua, and who had every quality that could fit 
him to be the guardian and leader of his people, should 
not be led astray by love from the high task to which the 
Lord had called him. None among the Hebrews should 
hear the message he had brought, and thereby be turned 
away from the perilous path on which they had entered. 
Her duty was now as clear in her sight as the vanished 
vision had been. And as though the Most High would 
fain show her that she had understood rightly what the 
vision demanded of her before she had risen from her 
knees to announce to Joshua the sorrow to which she had 
condemned him and herself, she heard Hur’s voice close 
at hand bidding the crowd, which was gathering from all 
sides, to form in order for their march. 

The way of salvation from herself lay before her. 

Joshua, meanwhile, had not ventured to intrude on her 
devotions. He was wounded and angered to the depths 
of his soul by her rejection. But gazing down on her he 


JOSHUA. 


121 


had seen her tall frame shiver as with a sudden chill, her 
eyes and hands uplifted as if spell- bound ; and he had 
understood that something great and sacred was stirring 
in her soul which it would be a crime to disturb ; nay, he 
had been unable to resist an instinctive feeling that he was 
a bold man who could desire a woman so closely one with 
God. It would be bliss indeed to be lord of this sublime 
creature, but at the same time hard to see her prefer 
another, though it were the Almighty, so far above her 
lover. 

Men and beasts were already trooping in crowds past 
the sycamore, and when at length Joshua decided that he 
must speak to Miriam and remind her of the gathering 
throng she rose, and turning to him spoke these vehement 
words : 

“ I have spoken with the Lord, Joshua, and I now know 
His will. Dost thou remember the words with which God 
called thee ? ” 

He bowed his head and she went on : 

“ It is well. Then learn now what it is that the Most 
High God hath said to thy father, and to Moses, and to 
me. He will lead us forth from the land of Egypt, far, far 
away, to a land where neither Pharaoh nor his rulers shall 
have dominion over us, and He alone will be our King. 
This is His will, and if thou desire to serve Him thou shalt 
follow us, and, if we have need to fight, be captain over 
the men of our people.” 

At this he beat his breast and cried in great trouble : 
“ I am bound by an oath to return home to Tanis to tell 
Pharaoh how the leaders of the Hebrews have received the 
message which I have brought to them. Yea, and even if 
it should break my heart I cannot be forsworn.” 

“ And rather shall mine break,” Miriam moaned, “ than 
I break my vow to the Lord. We have chosen. And 
here, in the presence of this heap of stones, all the ties are 
cut which ever bound us ! ” 

At this he was beside himself ; he eagerly strove to 
take her hand, but she repulsed him with an imperious 
gesture, turned away and went forward towards the throng 
of people who were crowding round the well with the cattle 
and sheep. 

Great and small respectfully made way for her as she 
walked with proud dignity towards Hur, who was giving 


122 


JOSHUA . 


orders to the shepherds. He came to meet her, and when 
he had heard the promise she made him in an undertone he 
laid his hand on her head and said with grave solemnity : 
“ May the Lord bless our union.” 

Then, hand in hand with the gray-haired man to whom 
she had plighted her troth, Miriam turned to meet Joshua, 
and nothing betrayed the deep agitation of her soul but the 
fluttering rise and fall of her bosom, though her cheeks 
were indeed pale ; her eyes were dry, and her demeanor 
as unbending as ever. 

She left it to Hur to tell the lover whom she had rejected, 
now and forever, what she had done ; and when the 
warrior heard it he started back as though a gulf had 
yawned at his feet. 

His lips were bloodless as he gazed at the unequally 
matched pair. Scornful laughter seemed to him the only 
fit answer for such an announcement, but Miriam’s earnest 
face helped him to suppress it, and to conceal his painful 
agitation under some trivial speech. However, he felt 
that he could not for long preserve the semblance of indif- 
ference, so he bid Miriam farewell.' He must, as he hastily 
explained, greet his father, and request him to call a meet- 
ing of the elders. 

But before he had done speaking the quarreling herds- 
men came crowding round Hur that he might decide what 
place in the procession it behooved each tribe to take ; so 
he went with them ; and as soon as Miriam found herself 
alone with the soldier she said beseechingly, but in a low 
voice and with imploring eyes : 

“ A hasty deed has broken the bonds that united us, 
but a higher tie still holds us together. As I have given 
up that which my heart held dearest, to be faithful to my 
God and my people, so do thou sacrifice that to which thy 
soul clings. Obey the Most High, who hath named thee 
Joshua ! This hour hath changed our gladness to bitter 
grief ; may the good of the people be its fruit ! Remain a 
true son of the race which gave thee thy father and mother, 
and be what the Lord hath called thee to be, a captain of 
His people. 

“ If thou abide by the oath thou hast sworn to Pharaoh, 
and reveal to the elders the promises thou hast brought, 
they will go over to thy side ; that I know full well. Few 
will stand up against thee, but foremost of these few will 


JOSHUA . 


123 


be thine own father. I can hear him uplift his voice in 
anger against his own beloved son ; and if thou shut thine 
ear even to his admonition, then the people will follow thee 
instead of following the Lord, and thou wilt lead the 
Israelites as a mighty man of valor. But, then, when the 
day comes in which the Egyptian lets his promises fly to 
the four winds, thou wilt see thy people more cruelly 
oppressed than even heretofore, and when they turn aside 
from the God of their fathers to worship the gods with the 
heads of beasts the curse of thy father shall fall upon thee. 
The wrath of the Most High shall be visited upon the fro- 
ward, and despair shall be the lot of him who shall lead 
the foolish folk astray after that the Lord hath chosen him 
to be the captain of His people. I, a weak woman, the 
handmaid of the Lord, and the damsel who loved thee 
better than life — I cry unto thee, ‘ Beware of the curse of 
thy father and the hand of the Lord ! Beware lest thou 
lead the people into sin ! ’ ” 

A slave girl here came out to Miriam to bid her go to 
the old people, so she only added in a low voice : “ One 
word more. If thou wouldst prove thyself not less weak 
than the woman whose opposition moved thee to anger, 
renounce thine own will for the sake of the multitude of 
thy brethren. Lay thine hand on this heap and swear to 
me — ” 

But the prophetess’ voice failed her. Her hands felt 
about vainly for some support, and with a cry she fell on 
her knees close to Hur’s heap of stones. Joshua hastened 
to raise her, holding her in his strong arms, and at his call 
some women hurried up and soon revived the fainting girl. 

As she opened her eyes they wandered vaguely from one 
to another, and it was not till her gaze fell on Joshua’s 
anxious face that she fully understood where she was and 
what had happened. Then she hastily drank a deep 
draught of the water which a shepherd woman offered her, 
dried her eyes which were streaming with tears, sighed 
bitterly, and with a wan smile said to Joshua : 

“ I am after all but a weak woman.” 

Then she went towards the house, but after walking a 
few steps she turned round, signed to Joshua, and said : 

“ You see they are forming in ranks. They are about 
to set forth. Are you still of the same mind? There is 
yet time to call the elders together.” 


124 


JOSHUA. 


But he shook his head in denial, and, as he met her eye 
glistening with gratitude, he softly replied : “ I will ever 
bear in mind this heap, and this hour, wife of Hur ! Greet 
my father from me, and tell him that I love him. Tell 
him, too, the name which his son is henceforth to bear by 
the command of the Most High. In that name, which 
promised me the help of the Lord, he shall put his trust 
when he hears whither I go, to keep the oath I have sworn.” 

He waved his hand to Miriam, and turned to go to the 
camp, where his horse had been fed and watered, but she 
called after him : 

“ One last word. Moses left a letter for you in the 
hollow of the tree.” At this the warrior went to the 
sycamore and read the message which the man of God had 
left for him. 

“Be steadfast and strong,” was the brief injunction, and 
Joshua raised his head and cried joyfully : “ The words are 
a comfort to my soul ; and if it is for the last time that we 
have met, wife of Hur, if I now go to my death, be sure 
that I shall know how to be steadfast and strong, even 
unto the end. And do you do all you can for my old 
father.” 

Herewith he sprang on horseback, and as he made his 
way to Tanis, faithful to his oath, his soul was free from 
fears, although he did not conceal from himself that he was 
riding forth to great peril. His highest hopes were 
destroyed, and yet glad excitement struggled with the grief 
in his soul. A new and glorious emotion had its birth 
there, filling his whole being, and it was scarcely damped 
though he had suffered a wound cruel enough to darken 
the light of day to any other man. He had now a fixed 
aim in life, and, besides this, he had the assurance that he 
might hold himself as worthy as Hur or as any other man. 
None could depose him from this high place but the 
glorious twain to whom he would dedicate his blood and 
his life : his God and his people. 

He was amazed to discern how greatly this new enthu- 
siasm cast into the shade everything else that stirred in his 
breast. Now and again, indeed, he bowed his head in 
sorrow as he remembered his old father ; still, he had done 
right in setting aside his longing to press him once more to 
his heart. The old man would scarcely have understood 
bis motives, and it was better for them to separate without 
meeting rather than in open dissension. 


JOSHUA . 


i«5 

Sometimes it seemed to him as though all that had 
happened could be but a dream ; and as he was still 
intoxicated, as it were, by the agitations of the last few 
hours, his stalwart frame was but little conscious of the 
fatigues he had gone through. At a well-known inn on the 
road, where he found several warriors, and among them 
certain captains well known to him, he at length allowed 
himself and his horse to rest and eat • and as he rode on 
refreshed, daily life asserted its rights. He passed various 
companies of soldiers on their way to the city of Tanis, and 
was informed that they were under orders to join them- 
selves there to the troops which he himself had brought 
home from Libya. 

At last he rode into the town, and as he went past the 
temple of Amon he heard loud wailing, though he had 
learned on his way that the pestilence was wellnigh at an 
end. From many signs he gathered the fact which was 
presently announced to him by some guards, the god’s 
high priest and first prophet, Ruie, had just died in the 
90th year of his age, and Baie, the second prophet, who 
had so warmly assured him of his friendship and gratitude, 
and who counted on his co-operation in a dangerous 
enterprise, was his successor — high priest and judge, seal- 
bearer and treasurer ; in short, the most powerful man in 
the kingdom. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

“ He whom Jehovah helps ! ” murmured a chain-laden 
prisoner with a bitter smile, as five days later, he, with 
forty fellow-sufferers, was led through the triumphal arch 
of Tanis toward the east. 

Their destination was the mines on the peninsula of 
Sinai, where fresh-forced laborers were needed. 

The smile on the victim’s face soon vanished ; then he 
drew up his muscular form while his bearded lips muttered 
the words : “ Steadfast and strong ! ” and he whispered to 
the youth who was walking at his side, as though he 
wished to convey to him some of the strength that he head 
recovered : “ Courage, Ephraim, courage ; look up and 
not in the dust, come what may ! ” 


JOSHUA. 


126 

“ Silence whilst marching ! ” cried one of the armed 
Libyan guards who escorted the gang to the elder prisoner, 
and he raised his whip with a menacing gesture. Joshua 
was the man he threatened, and his companion was 
Ephraim, who had been condemned to share his fate. 

Every Egyptian child knew what this meant, for “ Send 
me to the mines ! ” was this people’s most dreadful impre- 
cation, and no prisoner’s lot was half so hard as that of the 
condemned state criminal. 

A series of frightful humiliations and hardships awaited 
them at the mines. The strength of the healthiest was 
ruined by unheard-of over-work, and the exhausted victims 
were forced to do things so far beyond their power that they 
soon sank into the everlasting rest for which their martyred 
souls had long pined. 

Joshua’s encouraging words had little effect on Ephraim ; 
but when a few minutes later a chariot, shaded by an 
umbrella, drove past the gang, and in it, behind the 
charioteer and a matron, stood an elegant young woman, 
he turned round quickly and gazed after the vehicle with 
sparkling eyes, until the dust on the road hid it from sight. 

The lady was thickly veiled, yet the youth thought that 
he had recognized her for whose sake he had rushed into 
peril, and whose lightest sign he would even now fly to 
obey. And Ephraim had guessed correctly, for the young 
lady in the chariot was Kasana, the daughter of the captain 
of the archers ; the elder woman was her nurse. 

On reaching a little temple on the road, near a thicket 
of acacia, among which stood a well for the use of travelers, 
after the chariot had left the prisoners at some distance 
behind, Kasana begged the matron to wait. Then, 
springing out lightly on the road, she walked to and fro 
with a bowed head under the shadow of the trees until she 
knew by a rolling cloud of dust that the criminals were 
approaching. 

Then, taking out of her garment some gold rings which 
she had brought with her for the purpose, she went up to 
the driver of the melancholy procession as he drew near on 
an ass, and while she talked to him and pointed to Joshua 
the guard cast a stolen glance at the rings which had been 
slipped into his hand. His modesty had only allowed him to 
expect silver, and his face at once assumed a friendly and 
courteous expression at the sight of their pleasing yellow 
glitter. 


JOSHUA . 


127 


His countenance certainly darkened again at the demand 
Kasana made, but it brightened once more at a promise of 
further largesse from the young widow. “ Take the moles 
to the well, men ! Let them drink ! They shall go fresh 
and healthy underground ! ” * 

Then he rode up to the prisoners and called to Joshua : 
“You, who have yourself once ruled over many people, 
seem to me more stiff-necked still than is good for you or 
me. You, guards, look after the others. I will watch this 
one ; I have a few words to say to him.” 

Then he clapped his hands as if he was driving poultry 
from a garden, and whilst the prisoners drew water in the 
buckets of the well, and, with their guards, rejoiced in the 
refreshing drink, the leader led Joshua and Ephraim on one 
side, for they could not be separated by reason of the chains 
that bound them together by the ankles. They were soon 
hidden from the others behind the little temple, and then 
the driver sank down on a bench at a little distance, having 
first, with a significant gesture, shown the two Hebrews 
the bludgeon in his right hand, and pointed to the dogs 
who were rubbing against his feet. 

He kept his eyes open, too, during the conversation that 
followed. They might say what they pleased; he knew 
his duty, and though he understood how to shut one eye 
on a parting in return for good gold, for quite twenty 
years, in spite of many attempts to escape amongst his 
moles — as he called those condemned to the mines — not 
one had ever succeeded in getting away. 

This lovely woman was perhaps this fine fellow’s 
betrothed, for he had been told that Joshua had been com- 
mander. But he had already called many noble birds 
“ moles,” and if this veiled woman should contrive to slip 
files or gold into the prisoner’s hands so much the better; 
this evening nothing on these two should be left unsearched, 
not even the youth’s black hair, which had been left unshorn 
in the confusion that had taken place at the start of the 
prisoners, for they had been sent off just before the depar- 
ture of Pharaoh’s army. 

The subject of the woman’s whispered negotiations with 
the fallen captain remained unknown to the driver, but 
from her sorrowful face and manner he inferred that she 
had caused the ruin of this noble man. Oh ! woman, 
woman ! and that lad in chains ! The glances he cast at 


128 


JOSHUA. 


the slender creature were so ardent that she had to draw 
her veil closer. But patience ! Great Father Amon ! 
His moles were going to a good school for modesty. 

Now the woman removed her veil. She was beautiful ! 
It mfist be hard to part with such a lovely creature ; and 
now she cried so bitterly. 

The rough guard’s heart was touched as much as his 
position would allow, and he could have struck the elder 
prisoner with his whip, for was it not an outrage, having 
such a lover, to stand like stone ? At first the wretch did 
not even stretch out a hand to the woman, who certainly 
loved him ; whilst he, the guard, would have been glad to 
see the two kiss and embrace. 

Or was this beauty perhaps the warrior’s wife, who had 
deceived him? But no, no, how kindly he approached 
her now. A father speaks like that to his child, but his 
“ mole ” was much too young to have so old a daughter. 
A riddle ! However, he did not care about the answer, 
since it was in his power during the march to make the 
most taciturn convict as frank as an open book. 

And not alone the simple driver of the gang, but every- 
one might have wondered why this beautiful woman had 
come out into the highway at early dawn to see an un- 
fortunate man weighed down with chains. 

Nothing but tormenting anxiety for the man she loved 
could have impelled Kasana to take this journey and 
expose herself to scorn as a woman of no reputation. A 
terrible fate awaited him ; her lively imagination had pic- 
tured Joshua in the mines languishing, broken down, pining 
away, and at last dying with a curse on her upon his lips. 

On the evening of the day on which Ephraim, shivering 
with high fever and half choked with dust, was carried 
into their house, her father had informed her that in the 
person of the young Hebrew she held a hostage which 
would force Joshua to return to Tanis, and yield to the 
wishes of the prophet Baie, with whom she knew her father 
to be allied in a secret plot. He likewise confided to her 
that not only were great distinctions and high honors to 
be offered to Joshua, but also marriage with herself, to secure 
his fidelity to Egypt and to a cause from which he, Hor- 
necht, looked for great benefits to the country and to his 
own kindred. This had filled her with high hopes of 
attaining long-wished-for joys ; and as they sat near the 


JOSHUA. 


129 


little road-side temple, she now confessed this to the 
prisoner with a drooping head and low sobs ; for he was 
now forever lost to her, and even if he could not return the 
love she had felt for him since her childhood, he at any 
rate would not hate her and condemn her unheard. 

Joshua, indeed, listened to her willingly, and assured her 
that nothing would gladden his heart more than that she 
should clear herself from the reproach of being answer- 
able for the terrible fate awaiting himself and the youth by 
his side. 

At this she sobbed aloud, and had to struggle to com- 
pose herself before she could succeed in telling her story 
with any degree of calmness. 

Shortly after Joshua’s departure the high priest had died, 
and Baie, the second prophet of Amon, had succeeded him. 
Things were then greatly altered; this man, the most 
powerful in the land, stirred up Pharaoh to hatred against 
the Hebrews and their leader, Moses, whom, till then, the 
king and queen had protected and feared. He had also 
persuaded the king to pursue the fugitive Hebrews, and 
the army was at once ordered to go forth and compel them 
to return. She immediately feared that Joshua would 
certainly refuse to fight against those who were of his own 
blood, and that it must anger him to be sent forth to sign 
a contract which the Egyptians would begin to break 
before they could know whether it had been accepted. 
Then, when he had returned home, he himself knew only 
too well how Pharaoh had treated him like a prisoner, and 
had refused to admit him to his presence until he had 
sworn to continue to lead the Egyptian troops, and 
remain a faithful servant to the king. Still, Baie, the high 
priest, had not forgotten that he had saved his life, and 
was well disposed toward him and grateful ; and she knew 
that he had hoped to entangle Joshua in the secret con- 
spiracy in which her father also was implicated. It was 
Baie, too, who had caused Pharaoh to release him from 
fighting against his own nation on condition of his renew- 
ing his oath of fidelity, to place him in command of the 
foreign mercenaries, and to raise him to the high rank of 
“ Friend of the King” — but of course he must know all 
this already, for the new high priest had with his own hand 
set the tempting prospect before Joshua, who had rejected 
it with firm and manly decision. Her father had in the 

9 


130 


JOSHUA. 


first instance been on his side, and for the first time had 
entirely refrained from speaking with reproach of his 
Hebrew origin. 

On the third day after Joshua’s return the captain of the 
archers had gone out to speak with him, and since then 
everything had gone wrong. He therefore must know 
what it was that had turned the man of whom she dared 
think no evil, since she was his daughter, from being a 
friend into a mortal enemy. She looked inquiringly into 
Joshua’s face, and he was ready with his answer. The 
captain had told him that he would be a welcome son- 
in-law. 

“And you,” asked Kasana, looking anxiously at the 
speaker. 

“ I,” replied the prisoner, “ could only say that you had 
from your childhood been kind and dear to me, but that 
nevertheless there was much to forbid my linking the fate 
of any woman to mine.” 

At this Kasana’s eyes flashed and she cried : “ It is 
because you love another — a woman of your own people — 
the woman who sent Ephraim to you ! ” 

But Joshua shook his head and answered gently : “You 
are in error, Kasana. The woman of whom you speak is 
this day another man’s wife.” 

“ But then,” cried the widow, with revived spirit, and 
she looked at him with tender entreaty, “ why — oh forgive 
me — why did you repulse him so harshly ? ” 

“ That was far from my purpose, dear child,” he replied 
warmly, laying his hand on her head. “ I always have 
thought of you with all the affection of which I am capable. 
And though I could not, indeed, accede to his wish, it was 
because the sternest necessity forbids me ever to look for- 
ward to that peace and joy by my own hearth which other 
men may strive for. If I had been a free man my life 
would have been one of constant journeying and warfare.” 

“ But bow many men,” Kasana put in, “ wield the sword 
and shield, indeed, but rejoice at their home-coming to 
their wives, and the joys they find under their own roof? ” 

“ Very true,” said he sadly. “ But the duties that call 
me are such as the Egyptians know not of. I am the son 
of my nation.” 

“ And you propose to serve it? ” said Kasana. “ Oh ! 
I quite understand you. But then — why did you return to 
Tanis ? Why did you trust yourself in Pharaoh’s power? ” 


JOSHUA . i 3I 

“ Because I was pledged by a sacred oath, my child,” 
said he kindly. 

“ An oath ! ” she exclaimed. “ A promise that puts 
death and captivity between you and her whom you love, 
and those whom you desire to serve ! Oh ! would that 
you had never come back to this land of unrighteousness, 
of treachery and ingratitude ! That oath will plunge many 
into grief and weeping. But what does a man care for the 
woe he brings on others ? You have spoilt all my joy in 
life, hapless creature that I am ; and at home, among your 
own people, you have a worthy father whose only son you 
are. How often have I seen the noble old man with his 
snow-white hair and flashing eye ? And you will be like 
him if you attain to old age, as I used to think when I met 
him by the harbor, or in the four-court of the High Gate, 
when he was ordering his hinds to bring in his tribute of 
beasts or woolly sheep to the receipt of custom. And now 
his latter days are to be darkened by his son’s perversity.” 

“ And, now,” corrected Joshua, “ his son is going into 
misery, loaded with fetters ; still he may hold his head 
high above those who have betrayed him. They, and 
Pharaoh at their head, have forgotten that I have shed my 
heart’s blood for them on many a battle-field, and been 
faithful to the king through every kind of danger. 
Menephtah has abandoned me, and with him his chief 
minister, whose life I saved, and many another who once 
called me friend ; they have deserted me and cast me out, 
and this innocent lad with me. But, I tell you, woman, 
those who have done this, those who have committed this 
sin — one and all, shall ” 

“ Curse them not ! ” cned Kasana, and her cheeks 
flushed scarlet. 

But Joshua did not heed her prayer, but exclaimed : 
“ Should I be a man if I did not thirst for vengeance ? ” 

The young woman clung in terror to his arm and beseech- 
ingly went on : 

“ How, indeed, can you forgive him ? Only do not 
curse him, for it was out of love for me that my father 
became your enemy. You know him well, and his hot 
blood, which easily carries him to extremes in spite of his 
years. He kept silence, even to me, of what he took as 
an insult — for he has seen me courted by many suitors, 
and I am precious above all else in his eyes. Sooner will 


132 


JOSHUA . 


Pharaoh forgive the rebel than my father will pardon the 
man who scorns me, his dearest treasure. He came home 
frantic with rage. Every word he spoke was abuse. Then 
he could not bear to remain indoors, and he stormed out- 
side as he had stormed within. At last, however, he would 
have allowed himself to be pacified, as he often had done 
before, if he had not met some one in the palace courts 
who made it his business to pour oil on the flames. I 
heard all this from the high priest’s wife, for she, too, was 
greatly troubled to think that she had brought evil upon 
you, and her husband had already done everything in his 
power to save you. She, who is as brave as a man, was 
ready to second him and to open the door of your prison ; 
she has not forgotten that you saved her husband’s life in 
Libya. Ephraim’s chains were to be struck off at the same 
time as yours, and all was ready to enable you to escape.” 

“ I know,” replied Joshua gloomily. “ And I would 
return thanks to the God of my fathers if they spoke falsely 
who told me that it was your doing, Kasana, that our 
dungeon was locked on 14s more closely than ever.” At 
this the pretty heart-broken young creature exclaimed 
vehemently : “ And should I be here if that were true ? 
Hatred indeed seethed in my soul, as in that of every 
woman whose love is scorned ; but the ill-fortune which 
befell you quickly changed my wrath into pity, and revived 
the fires in my heart. As truly as' I pray to be mercifully 
judged after my death, I am innocent of this thing, and 
never ceased to hope for your release. It was not until 
last evening, when it was too late, that I learned that 
Baie’s attempt had failed. The high priest can do much, 
but the very man whom he will not thwart is closely allied 
to my father.” 

“You mean Pharaoh’s nephew, Prince Siptah,” inter- 
rupted Joshua in great excitement. “ They hinted to me 
the plots they were weaving about him. They wanted to 
set me in the place of Aarsu, the Syrian captain, if I would 
but consent to let them work their will with my people and 
renounce my own flesh and blood. But rather would I 
have died twenty deaths than stain myself with such trea- 
son. Aarsu is far more fit for such dark schemes, though 
at last he will betray them all. So far as I am concerned, 
the prince has good reason to hate me.” 

At this Kasana put her hand over her mouth, pointing 


JOSHUA . 


*33 


uneasily to Ephraim and the gaoler, and whispered : 
“ Spare my father ! The prince — whatever it was that 
roused his enmity ” 

“He is seeking to tempt you, too, into his net, and he 
has been told that you are in love with me,” the warrior 
broke in. But she only blushed, and bending her head in 
assent went on : 

“ And for that reason Aarsu, whom he has taken into 
the conspiracy, is bound to keep such close ward over you 
and Ephraim.” 

“ The Syrian’s eyes are wide open,” cried Joshua. “ But 
I believe you, and thank you heartily for coming to us 
hapless wretches.” 

“ And you will always think of poor Kasana without 
wrath or hatred ? ” 

“ Gladly, most gladly.” 

The young widow grasped the captive’s hand with pas- 
sionate agitation, and was about to press it to her lips, but 
he drew it away ; and she said anxiously, gazing up at him 
with tearful eyes : “ Do you refuse me the favor which no 
benefactor refuses to a beggar ? ” Then she suddenly 
started up, and exclaimed so loudly that the gaoler was 
roused, and looked to see where the sun was : “ But I tell 
you, that the time will come when you will offer me that 
hand to kiss. For when the messenger shall come from 
Tanis to bring you and this lad the freedom you pine for, 
it will be to Kasana that you will owe it ! ” 

The fair face glowed with the flush of eager anticipation, 
and Joshua, seizing her hand, exclaimed : “ Oh, if only you 
might succeed in doing what your faithful soul desires ! 
How can I bear to prevent your trying to alleviate the ter- 
rible misfortune which fell upon this boy under your roof? 
Still, as an honest man, I must tell you that I can never 
more take service with the Egyptians ; come what may, I 
shall henceforth forever belong, body and soul, to those 
whom you persecute and despise, the nation and tribe into 
which my mother bore me.” 

At this her lovely head dropped ; but she raised it again 
immediately to say : “ There is no one so high-souled and 
honest as you, no one that I have ever known from my 
childhood up. And when, among my own people, I fail to 
find any man whom I may reverence, still I will remember 
you, in whom everything is great, and true, and without 


134 


joshua. 


spot. And if poor Kasana may succeed in setting you 
free, do not despise her if you find her fallen away from 
the virtue in which you left her ; for the humiliation she 
may have to endure, the shame she may be brought to — ” 

Joshua anxiously interrupted her. 

“ What are you about to do ? ” he cried ; but he was not 
to hear the answer, for the leader of the gang rose and 
clapped his hands, crying out : “ Now, on again, you moles, 
on again, at once.” 

At this the warrior’s heart was moved to deep regret. 
Obedient to a hasty impulse he kissed the hapless 
Kasana on her fair brow and hair, and whispered : “ Leave 
me to pine if our freedom is to cost you such degrada- 
tion. We shall never, indeed, meet again ; for, come 
what may, my life henceforth will be nothing but a struggle 
and self-sacrifice. The night will close in on us darker 
and darker ; but, however black it may be, one star will 
often shine on me and on this lad — the remembrance of 
you, sweet child, my loving and faithful Kasana.” He 
pointed to Ephraim, and the youth pressed his lips, as if 
beside himself, to the hand and arm of Kasana, who was 
sobbing aloud. 

“ Come on ! ” cried the driver once more, and with a 
grateful grin for a fresh gift of money he helped the open- 
handed lady into her chariot. 

The horses started, fresh shouts were heard, the whip 
cracked here and there on bare shoulders, a few yells of 
anguish rose through the morning air, and the file of pri- 
soners went off towards the east. The chains on the vic- 
tims’ feet stirred up the dust which shrouded the wanderers, 
as grief, and hatred, and dread, clouded each separate soul 
among them. 

On they went, bent in gloomy brooding ; only Joshua 
held his head erect. It was a comfort to him to know 
that Kasana, the sweet creature he had loved as a child, 
was innocent of his fate ; and when his spirit sank within 
him he could revive it by repeating to himself the words 
of Moses : u Steadfast and strong.” 


JOSHUA. 


I 35 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

At a long hour’s distance beyond the little temple where 
the prisoners had rested, the road leading southwards to 
Succoth and Baal Zephon parted from that which led in a 
south easterly direction, across the fortified frontier line, 
to the isthmus and the mines. 

Not long after the departure of the prisoners the army 
gathered together to pursue the Hebrews had set forth 
from the city of Rameses, and as the criminals had rested 
some considerable time by, the well, the troops had nearly 
overtaken them. Thus they had not gone much further 
when some pioneers rode up to clear the highway for the 
approaching host. They ordered the gang of prisoners to 
stand aside, and proceed no farther till the swift baggage 
train containing Pharaoh’s tents and household gear should 
have passed them ; and, indeed, the king’s chariot wheels 
could already be heard. 

The drivers were well content to be bidden to wait ; 
they were in no hurry ; the day was hot, and if they were 
late in reaching their journey’s end it was the fault of the 
army. To Joshua, too, the incident was agreeable, for his 
young companion in chains had been staring before him 
as if in delirium, and had answered his questions vaguely 
or not at all, so that the older man was growing uneasy. 
He knew full well how many of those condemned to forced 
labor fell into madness or melancholy. And now a portion 
of the host would march past them, and the sight was new 
to the lad, and might rouse him from his dull moodiness. 
There was by the roadside a sand hill overgrown by 
tamarisk bushes, and to this the driver led his file of men. 
He was stern, but not cruel, so he allowed his “ moles ” 
to stretch themselves on the sand, for the march past 
would be a long business. They had scarcely settled 
themselves when the roll of wheels, the neighing of fiery 
steeds, and shouts of command were heard, with now and 
then the harsh bray of an ass. 

As the foremost chariots approached, Ephraim inquired 


JOSHUA. 


136 

whether Pharaoh were not coming ; but Joshua informed 
him, with a smile, that when the king led forth his troops 
to battle- first of all, immediately after the advanced guard, 
the king’s camp and furniture were sent on : for that 
Pharaoh and his nobles liked to find their tents pitched 
and the tables spread when the day’s march was over, and 
all, officers and men alike, were to rest for the night. 

Joshua had not yet ceased speaking when a number of 
empty carts and asses free of burdens came past; they 
were to carry the tribute of bread and meal, beasts and 
birds, wine. and beer, to be paid by each village through 
which the sovereign should pass. This had been levied 
by the collectors the day before. Soon after came a com- 
pany of warriors in chariots. Each small, two-wheeled 
chariot, plated with bronze, was drawn by a pair of horses, 
and in each stood a man and a charioteer. Large quivers 
were attached to the breastworks of the chariots, and the 
soldiers rested on their spears, or on their large bows. 
They were protected against the missiles of the foe by shirts 
covered with scale armor, or thickly padded coats of mail 
under gayly colored tunics ; and by a helmet, as well as 
by the breastwork of the chariot. These, whom Joshua 
designated as the vanguard, went forward at an easy pace, 
and were followed by a vast multitude of wagons and carts, 
drawn by horses, mules, or oxen ; and with them were 
whole herds of asses with towering loads on their backs. 
Next he pointed out to his nephew the tall spars and poles, 
and heavy rolls of rich stuffs which were to be used in 
erecting the king’s tent, and which were a burden for 
several beasts ; the asses and the carts with the kitchen 
Utensils, and the camp smithies. With these came the 
leeches, wardrobe-keepers, salve-makers, cooks, garland- 
winders, attendants and slaves attached to the royal camp, 
all mounted on asses driven by nimble runners. All these, 
having so lately set out, were still fresh and in high spirits, 
and those who noticed the prisoners flung many a sharp 
jest at them, as is the Egyptian way, though several applied 
a balm in the shape of an alms; others, who said nothing, 
sent a slave with a few fruits or some small gift, for he 
who was free to-day might, on the morrow, be sent after 
these poor wretches. The driver let this pass, and when 
a slave whom Joshua had sold some time since for his 
dishonesty shouted aloud “ Hosea,” and pointed to him 


JOSHUA. 


*37 


with a malignant gesture, the good-hearted rough fellow 
offered the insulted Hebrew a drink of wine out of his own 
flask. 

Ephraim, who had fared from Succoth on foot with a 
staff in his hand, and a small wallet containing dried lamb’s 
flesh, bread, radishes, and dates, expressed his amazement 
at the numberless men and things which one man required 
for his comfort, and then sank into melancholy again until 
his uncle roused him with some fresh explanation. 

As soon as the camp baggage had gone by, the driver 
wanted to start with his prisoners, but the king’s pioneer 
— the “ opener of the way ” — riding in front of the archers 
of the«guard, who came next, forbade it, as it ill-beseemed 
criminals to mingle with the soldiers : so they remained 
on their hillock and looked at the rest of the procession. 

After the archers came the heavy infantry, carrying 
shields of strong ox-hide so long as to cover the brawny 
bearers from their feet almost to the chin ; and Joshua 
told the boy that at night they were placed in a circle 
round the king’s camp, and so inclosed it, as it were, with 
a fence. Besides their shields they carried a javelin, and 
wore a short dagger-like sword or war sickle. When after 
some thousands of these heavily armed men there followed 
a troop of sling men, Ephraim spoke for the first time of 
his own accord, exclaiming that such slings as the shepherds 
had taught him to make were far better than those of the 
soldiers ; and then, encouraged by his uncle, he told him, 
so eagerly that the men lying about him listened to his 
words, how he himself could slay not mere jackals, wolves, 
and panthers with a stone from a sling, but even a vulture 
on the wing. And meanwhile he asked the meaning of 
the standards and the names of the different companies of 
warriors. 

Several divisions had already gone past when at last 
another crowd of chariots came in sight, and the driver 
cried aloud : “ The kind god ! The lord of both worlds ! 
Long life to him, health and happiness ! ” As he spoke 
he fell on his knees in an attitude of adoration, and the 
prisoners lay prostrate on their faces to kiss the ground, 
holding themselves in readiness to join at the right 
moment, at their gaoler’s signal, in the cry, “ All hail and 
happiness ! ” 

But they still had long to wait before the expected 


*38 


JOSHUA . 


monarch appeared. After the chariot-men came the body 
guard, mercenaries of foreign nations wearing a peculiar 
kind of helmet and long swords. They marched on foot, 
and immediately behind them a vast multitude of priests 
and scribes appeared, with a number of images of the gods. 
Then again a company of guards, and at last Pharaoh and 
his court. Foremost of them all was Baie, the high priest, 
in a gilt war chariot drawn by splendid brown steeds. He 
had, in former days, led troops forth to battle, and had 
taken the lead of this pursuing army at the bidding of the 
gods, wearing his priest’s robes, indeed, but also the helmet 
and battle-axe of a captain of the host. At last, close 
behind Baie’s chariot, came Pharaoh himself ; but jie did 
not ride forth to battle in a war-chariot, as his bolder fore- 
fathers had done, but preferred to be borne on his throne. 
A magnificent canopy over his head screened him from 
the scorching sun, and to the same end he was surrounded 
by fan-bearers, carrying immense bunches of ostrich 
feathers fastened at the end of long fan sticks. 

When Menephtah had fairly left the city and the gate of 
victory behind him, and the triumphant shouts of the 
populace had ceased to keep him awake, he had fallen 
asleep ; and the spreading fans would have screened his 
face and person from the eyes of the prisoners if their cries 
of “ Hail ! ” had not been so loud as to rouse him and 
cause him to turn his head toward them. But the gracious 
wave of his hand showed that he had something else in 
his mind than criminals, and before the voices of the 
hapless convicts had died away his eyes were closed once 
more. 

Ephraim’s dull brooding had given way to eager interest, 
and when the king’s gilt chariot came past empty, drawn 
by the most splendid horses he had ever beheld, he broke 
out in admiration. These noble beasts, their clever heads 
crowned with ostrich plumes, and their harness glittering 
with gold and precious stones, were indeed a sight to see. 
The large gold quivers, studded with emeralds, at the sides 
of the chariot, were full of arrows. The sleeping man, 
whose feeble hand held the reins of government of a great 
nation, the languid idler who shunned every sort of effort, 
recovered his energies as soon as he was in the hunting 
field, and he looked upon this expedition as a hunt on a 
grand scale ; and, inasmuch as it seemed to him a royal 


JOSHUA. 


«39 


sport to shoot his arrows at men instead of a brute game 
— at men, too, of whom he had but lately been in mortal 
dread — he had yielded to the high priest’s behest and come 
with the army. The expedition had been sent forth by 
order of Amon, so he could now have no further cause to 
fear the power of Mesu. When he should catch him he 
would make him repent of having struck terror to the 
heart of Pharaoh and his queen, and causing him to shed 
so many tears ! 

While Joshua was telling the youth from what Phoenician 
city the gilt chariot had been brought, he suddenly felt his 
wrist clutched by Ephraim, and heard him explaim, “ She 
— she — look, it is she ! ’’ 

The lad was crimson with blushes, nor was he mistaken, 
for there, in the same traveling chariot in which she had 
come to visit the prisoners, was Kasana, and many ladies 
besides formed part of the court accompanying the expedi- 
tion, which the captain of the foot soldiers, a brave old iron- 
eater of the time of the Gfeat Rameses, called a mere party 
of pleasure. When the monarch went forth across the 
desert to do battle in further Syria, Libya, and Ethiopia, 
only a select party of women accompanied him, in curtained 
vehicles, under the conduct of eunuchs ; but on this 
occasion, though the queen had remained at home, Baie’s 
wife and some other women of rank had set the example of 
going forth with the troops, and it had been a tempting 
opportunity to many to enjoy the excitement of war with- 
out running into danger. 

Scarcely an hour since, Kasana had surprised her old 
friend, the high priest’s wife, by joining the rest, for only 
yesterday nothing could persuade the young widow to go 
forth with the host. Yielding to a sudden impulse, with- 
out asking her father, and with so little preparation that 
she had not the most necessary gear, she had overtaken 
the army ; and it seemed as though the magnet which had 
drawn her was a man whom she had hitherto avoided, albeit 
he was .no less a personage than Siptah, the king’s 
nephew. 

As the cortege passed the sand-hill the prince was 
standing by the fair young woman in her waiting-woman’s 
place, and interpreting to her with many a jest the symbo- 
lism of the flowers in a nosegay, while Kasana declared it 
could not have been intended for her, as not more than an 


140 


JOSHUA. 


hour since she had had no idea of following the expedition. 
Siptah, however, assured her that even at sunrise the 
Hathors had revealed to him the happiness that was in 
store for him, and that the interpretation of these flowers 
proved it. A party of youthful courtiers, who had quitted 
their chariots or litters, were walking by the side of her 
carriage and taking part in the laughter and merry talk ; 
the high priest’s wife also put in a word now and again, for 
her litter was borne close by Kasana. 

All this had not escaped Joshua ; and as he saw Kasana 
with the prince, whom she had hitherto detested, rapping 
his hand with her fan with gay audacity, his brow darkened, 
and he asked himself whether the young widow had not 
been cruelly mocking him in his overthrow. But at this 
moment the driver of the prison-gang caught sight of the 
curl on Siptah’s temple, which he wore as a badge of the 
blood royal, and his loud cry of “ Hail ! Hail ! ” in which 
the other guards and the prisoners joined, attracted the 
attention of Kasana and her companion. They turned to 
look at the tamarisk thicket whence it came, and then 
Joshua could see that the young woman turned pale and, 
with a hasty gesture, pointed to the group. She must have 
given Siptah some behest, for the prince at first shrugged 
his shoulders, but, after some delay and argument, half in 
jest and half in earnest, he sprang from his chariot and 
beckoned to the driver of the gang. 

“ Did these people gaze on the countenance of the kind 
god, the lord of both worlds ? ” he asked in a voice so 
loud that Kasana must have heard him from the road ; and 
when he received a hesitating answer he went on in haughty 
tones : “No matter. At any rate they have seen mine, 
and that of the fairest women, and if. by reason of that, 
they hope for mercy they are justified. You know who I 
am. Those who are chained together are to be relieved of 
their ankle-fetters ; ” then signing to the head gaoler he 
whispered in his ear : “ but you must keep your eyes open 
all the wider. That fellow close to the bush is that Joshua 
who was a captain in Pharaoh’s army. When I am at 
home again come and tell me what has become of the man. 
The more completely you can quiet him the deeper shall I 
dip into my money-bag. Do you understand ? ” 

The man bowed low and thought to himself : “ I will 
take good care, my prince, and see that no one takes the 


JOSHUA. 


141 

life of any of my moles. The greater these lords, the 
stranger and more bloody are their demands. How many 
an one has come to me with a similar request. Siptah can 
release the feet of these poor wretches, but he would load 
my soul with a cowardly murder ! But he has come to the 
wrong man ! “ Here, you fellows, bring the bag of tools 

this way and strike the chains off these men’s ankles.” 

Pharaoh’s host moved on, and meanwhile the grinding 
of files was heard on the hillock, the prisoners were freed 
from their fetters, and then for security their arms were 
tied. 

Kasana had desired Prince Siptah to have the poor 
creatures who were being led away to misery relieved at 
any rate of their heavy foot-chains ; and she frankly con- 
fessed that it was intolerable to her to see an officer who 
had so often been a guest in her own house so terribly 
humiliated. The high priest’s wife had seconded her 
wish, and the prince had been forced to yield. Joshua 
knew full well to whom he and Ephraim owed this respite, 
and received it with thankful gladness. Walking was 
made easier to him, but anxiety weighed him down more 
heavily than ever. 

The army which had marched past would suffice to 
annihilate a foe ten times as great as the Hebrew force, to 
the very last man. His nation, and with them his father 
and Miriam, seemed doomed to a* cruel death ; Miriam 
who had wounded him so deeply, but to whom he owed it 
that even in prison he had discerned the path which he 
now saw was the only right one. However powerful the 
God might be whose greatness the prophetess had so fer- 
vently extolled, to whom, indeed, he himself had learned 
to look up with fervent adoration ; the sweeping onslaught 
of this vast host must inevitably and utterly destroy a troop 
of unarmed and inexperienced herdsmen. This certainty, 
which each fresh division, as it passed by, made more sure, 
sank deep in his soul. Never in his life had he experienced 
such anguish ; and that pain was intensified as he beheld 
his own men — all well-known faces who had so lately 
obeyed his word — under the orders of another. And it 
was to slaughter his own kith and kin that they were now 
marching to the field. This was a great grief, and Ephraim’s 
state likewise gave him cause for fresh anxiety, for since 
Kasana’s appearance and her intercession for him and his 


142 


JOSHUA . 


companion in misfortune he had relapsed into silence, and 
gazed with wandering eyes either at the rear of the army or 
into vacancy. Ephraim was now freed of his irons, and 
Joshua asked the lad in an undertone whether he did not 
feel a longing to return to his people and to help them to 
resist so mighty an armament, but Ephraim only replied : 
“ In the face of such a foe they have no choice ; they must 
surrender. What indeed did we lack before our depart- 
ing from Zoan ? You were a Hebrew, as they were, and 
yet you rose to be a mighty captain among the Egyptians 
until you obeyed Miriam’s call. I should have acted 
differently in your place.” 

“ What would you have done ? ” asked Joshua. 

“What?” replied the boy, and the fiery young soul 
blazed up in him. “What? I would have remained where 
honor and fame were to be found, and everything that is 
good. You might have been the greatest of the great, the 
happiest of the happy ! I know it for certain, and you 
chose otherwise.” 

“ Because duty required it,” said Joshua gravely ; “ be- 
cause I never more will serve any one but the people of 
whose blood I am.” 

“ The people ! ” said the boy, contemptuously. “ I know 
the people, and you too have seen them at Succoth ! The 
poor are abject creatures who cringe under the lash ; the 
rich prize their beasts above everything on earth ; and 
those who belong to the heads of tribes are always quar- 
reling among themselves. Not one of them knows what is 
pleasing to the eye and heart. I am one of the richest 
of the nation, and yet I shudder to remember my father’s 
house which I have inherited, though it is one of the 
largest and best. Those who have seen anything finer 
cease to care for that.” At this the veins swelled in 
Joshua’s brow, and he wrathfully reproved the lad who 
could deny his own race, and fall away like a traitor to his 
own tribe. 

But the driver commanded silence, for Joshua had 
raised his admonishing voice, and the defiant lad was well 
pleased to obey ; and as they went on their way, whenever 
his uncle looked reproachfully in his face, or asked him 
whether he had thought better of it, he sulkily turned his 
back and remained gloomily silent, till the first star had 
risen, and, the pioneers having encamped on the waste for 
the night, their meagre fare was dealt out to them. 


JOSHUA. 


*43 

Joshua dug out a bed in the san'd with his hands, and 
kindly and skillfully helped his nephew to do the same. 
Ephraim accepted his service in silence ; but presently, as 
they lay side by side, and Joshua began to speak to the 
boy of the God of his fathers in whose help they must put 
their trust if they were not to perish of despair in the 
mines, Ephraim interrupted him, saying in a low voice but 
with fierce decisiveness : 

“ They shall never get me to the mines alive. Sooner 
will I perish in the attempt to escape than die in such 
misery ! ” 

Joshua whispered a word of warning in his ear, and 
reminded him of his duty to his people. But Ephraim 
only begged to be left to rest in peace. 

Soon after, however, he lightly touched his uncle, and 
asked in a low voice : 

“ What have they to do with Prince Siptah ? ” 

“ I know not ; nothing good, that is certain. ” 

“ And where is Aarsu, the Syrian, the commander of the 
Asiatic mercenaries, your enemy who watches us with 
such malignant zeal? I did not see him with the rest.” 

“ He remains in Tanis with his troops.” 

“ To guard the palace ? ” 

“ Just so.” 

“ Then he is captain over many, and Pharaoh trusts 
him ? ” 

“ Entirely, though he hardly deserves it.” 

“ And he is a Syrian, and so also of our blood ? ” 

“ At least he is nearer to us than the Egyptians, as you 
may know by his speech and features.” 

“ I should have taken him for a Hebrew ; and yet, you 
say he is one of the highest men in the army.” 

“ And other Syrians and Libyans are captains of large 
troops of mercenaries, and Ben Mazana, the herald, one of 
the greatest men about the court, whom the Egyptians 
have named ‘ Rameses in the Sanctuary of Ra/ is the son 
of a Hebrew father.” 

“ And he and the others are not looked down upon by 
reason of their birth ? ” 

“ It would scarcely be true to say as much as that. 
But what is the aim of all your questions ? ” 

“ I could not sleep.” 

“And such thoughts as these came into your head? 


144 


yosnuA. 


Nay, you have something definite in your mind, and, if I 
guess it rightly, I am sorry. You wish to enter Pharaoh’s 
service.” 

After this there was a long silence between the two ; 
then Ephraim spoke again, and, although he addressed 
Joshua, he spoke rather as if to himself : 

11 They will destroy all our nation, and those who escape 
will fall into slavery and disgrace. By this time my house 
is doomed to destruction, not a head of my great herds 
will be left to me, and the gold and silver I have inherited, 
and which is said to be a great sum, they will carry away 
with them ; for it is in your father’s keeping, and must fall 
a booty into the hands of the Egyptians. And shall I, now 
that I am free, go back to my people, and make bricks ? 
Shall I bow my back to be flogged and ill-treated ? ” 

Here Joshua exclaimed in an eager whisper : 

“ Call rather on the God of our fathers to protect and 
deliver His people ; and if the Most High has determined 
on the destruction of our nation then be a man, and learn 
to hate with all the might of your young soul those who 
have trodden them under foot. Flee to the Syrians, and 
offer them the strength of your young arm ; give yourself 
no rest till you have taken revenge on those who have 
shed the blood of the Israelites, and cast you, innocent, 
into bondage.” 

Then, again, there was silence, and nothing was to be 
heard from where Ephraim lay but moans from an 
oppressed heart. At length, however, Joshua heard him 
murmur : 

“ We are no longer weighed down by chains, and could 
I hate her who promised our release ? ” 

“ Be grateful to Kasana, but hate her people,” he whis- 
pered in reply. And he heard the lad turn over in his 
trough, and again he sighed and groaned. 

It was past midnight; the growing moon stood high in 
the sky, and Joshua, still sleepless, did not cease to listen 
to his young companion ; but Ephraim spoke not. Still 
sleep shunned him likewise, for Joshua heard him grinding 
his teeth — or was it that some mice had wandered out to 
this parched spot covered with dry brown grass, between 
salt plains on one side and bare sand on the other, and 
were gnawing the prisoners’ hard bread ? This grinding and 
gnawing must disturb the sleep even of those who most 


JOSHUA . 


145 


desire it, and Joshua, on the contrary, wished to keep 
awake that he might open the eyes of his blinded nephew. 
But he waited in vain for any sign of life on Ephraim’s 
part. 

At last he was about to lay his hand on the boy’s shoulder, 
but he paused as he saw in the moonlight that Ephraim 
was holding up his arm, although, before he lay down, 
his wrist had been tied more tightly than before. Joshua 
now understood that the noise which had puzzled him was 
the gnawing of the lad’s sharp teeth as he worked at the 
knot of the cords ; so he sat up and looked first at the sky 
and then round about him. He held his breath as he 
watched the young fellow, and his heart throbbed painfully 
— Ephraim meant to escape ! He had even achieved the 
first step toward freedom. He hoped his good fortune 
might follow him, but dreaded lest the fugitive might 
set forth in the wrong direction. This boy was the 
only child of his sister, a fatherless and motherless orphan, 
so he had never had the advantage of those numberless 
lessons and hints which only a mother can give, and which 
a proud young spirit will take from none else. Strangers’ 
hands had trained the young tree, and it had grown 
straight enough ; but a mother’s love would have graced it 
with carefully selected grafts. He had not grown up on 
his parents’ hearth, and that alone is the right home for 
the young. What wonder, then, that he felt a stranger 
among his own people ? 

At such thoughts as these great pity came upon Joshua, 
and with a consciousness of being deeply guilty in regard 
to this gifted youth, who had fallen into captivity for his 
sake when bearing a message to him. Still, strongly as he 
felt prompted to warn him yet once more against treachery 
and faithlessness, he would not do so for fear of imperiling 
his enterprise. The least sound might attract the attention 
of the men on watch, and he was now so much interested 
in his attempt for liberty as though Ephraim were making 
it by his instigation. So, instead of tormenting him with 
useless admonitions, he kept his eyes and ears open ; his 
knowledge of life had taught him that good advice is 
oftener neglected than followed, and that personal 
experience is the only irrefragable master. 

Very soon his practiced eye discerned the path by which 
Ephraim might escape if only fortune favored him. He 


146 


JOSHUA. 


gently spoke his name, and then his nephew softly replied : 
“ Uncle, I can untie the cord if you put out your hands ; 
mine are free.’' 

At this Joshua’s anxious face grew brighter. This bold- 
spirited youth was a good fellow at heart ; he was ready 
to risk his own success for the sake of an older man who, 
if he escaped with him, might only too probably hinder 
him in the path which, in his youthful illusion, he hoped 
might lead him to fortune. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

Joshua looked cautiously about him. The sky was still 
clear, though, if this north wind held, the clouds, which 
seemed to be coming up from the sea, would soon over- 
cast it. 

The air was sultry, but the men on watch kept their 
eyes open and relieved each other at regular intervals. 
Their vigilance would be hard to evade ; but close to the 
trough which formed Ephraim’s bed, and which his uncie, 
for their greater comfort, had dug by the side of his own, 
on the gentle slope of a mound, a narrow rift widened 
to a ravine, its edge gleaming in moonlight with veins of 
white gypsum and sparkling ores. If the supple lad could 
but slip unseen into this hollow, and creep along it as far 
as the shores of yonder salt lake, overgrown with tall 
mares-tail and a thicket of desert shrubs, under cover of 
the gathering clouds he might succeed in his attempt. 

Having come to this conclusion, Joshua next considered, 
as calmly as though he were deciding on a route for his 
troops, whether, if he had the use of his hands, he might 
be able to follow Ephraim without imperiling the boy’s 
escape. But to this he could only find a negative ; for 
one of the watch was close at hand, sitting or standing on 
a higher point of the hillock, and in the bright moonlight 
he could not fail to see every movement if the lad untied 
his bonds. Moreover the clouds might perhaps have 
covered the moon before this was accomplished, and thus 
Ephraim might let the one favorable moment slip which 
promised him release, and be led into danger on his ac- 
count. He was the boy’s natural protector, and would it 


JOSHUA . 


*47 


not be base indeed to bar his way to freedom for the sake 
of a doubtful prospect of escape for himself. 

So he whispered to Ephraim : “ I cannot go with you. 
Glide along the rift to the right down to the salt lake. I 
will keep an eye on the guards. As soon as the clouds 
hide the moon and I cough, creep away. If you succeed, 
fly to your people, greet my old father for me, assure him 
of my love and truth, and tell him whither I am being 
taken. Listen to his and Miriam’s counsel ; it will be 
good. Now the clouds are gathering about the moon — 
not another word.” 

Ephraim persisted in imploring him in the softest 
whisper to put forth his hands, but he bid him be silent, 
and as soon as the moon was shrouded, and the watch, who 
was pacing to and fro just at their head, had begun a con- 
versation with the man who came to relieve him, Joshua 
coughed gently, and then listened in the darkness with a 
throbbing heart and bated breath. 

First, he heard a slight rustle, and by the flare of the 
fire on the top of the slope, which the drivers now mended 
to keep off wild beasts, he saw that Ephraim’s bed was 
deserted. 

At this he breathed more easily, for the ravine must by 
this time hide the boy, and when he listened more sharply 
than before to catch a sound of creeping or slipping, he 
could hear nothing but the guards talking and their heavy 
footsteps. 

Their voices reached his ear, but not the words they 
spoke, so eagerly was he set on following the youth in his 
flight. How agile and how cautious the fugitive must be 
in his movements ! He must still be in the ravine. The 
moon seemed to be struggling with the clouds, till for a 
moment the silver disk victoriously rent the heavy, black 
curtain which hid it from the eyes of men, and the long, 
bright shaft of light was mirrored in the motionless waters 
of the salt lake ; Joshua could see everything that lay 
below him, but he detected nothing which bore any 
resemblance to a human figure. 

Had the lad met with some obstacle in the dell ? Was 
he checked by a cliff or a gulf in its gloomy depths ? Or 

and at this thought his heart seemed to stand still — 

had the abyss swallowed him up as he felt his way in the 
darkness? Now he longed to hear a sound, the very 


148 JOSHUA . 

faintest, ffom the depths of the rift. This stillness was 
fearful. 

Ah ! sooner silence than this ! A clatter of falling 
stones and slipping earth came up too loud now through 
the still night. The moon, too, again peeped out from its 
veil of clouds, and Joshua saw, down by the pool, a living 
form which seemed that of a beast rather than of a man, 
for it went along forefooted. And now the water splashed 
up in glittering drops. The creature, whatever it was, had 
plunged into the lake. And again the clouds hid the moon, 
and all was dark. Joshua breathed more freely, saying to 
himself that it was Ephraim whom he had seen, and that 
the fugitive, come what might, had gained a good start on 
his pursuers. 

But the men were not sleeping nor deceived ; for, al- 
though he cried out in order to mislead them. “ a jackal ! ” 
a shrill whistle rang out awaking all the sleepers. In a 
moment the driver of the gang was standing over him, a 
burning torch in his hand, and he heaved a sigh of relief 
when he saw his prisoner safe. It was not for nothing 
that he had tied him with double cords, for he would have 
been made to pay for it dearly if this man had escaped him. 

But, while the driver was feeling the rope that bound the 
Hebrew’s wrists, the flare of the torch he held fell on 
the fugitive’s empty resting place. The cords he had 
bitten through lay there yet, as if in mockery. The driver 
picked them up, cast them at Joshua’s feet, whistled 
loudly again and again, and shouted : 

“ Gone ! Flown ! The Hebrew ! The young one ! ” 

And troubling himself no further about the elder prisoner, 
he at once began the search. 

Hoarse with rage, he gave his orders rapidly ; all were 
clear, and all forthwith obeyed. While some of his men 
collected the gang, counted them over, and bound them 
together with cords, the leader, with the rest, and helped 
by dogs, sought some trace of the fugitive. 

Joshua saw him bring the beasts to snuff at the cords 
Ephraim had gnawed through, and the place where he had 
lain, and then they started direct for the ravine. He 
breathed hard as he perceived that they lingered there some 
little time, and at last, just as the moon again came through 
the clouds, emerged on the shore and rushed down to the 
water’s edge. He was glad that Ephraim had waded 


JOSHUA . 


149 


through it instead of running round it, for the dogs here 
lost the scent, and many minutes slipped by while the 
guards and the dogs, who poked their noses into every 
footprint left by the runaway, made their way round 
the shore to find the trace again. Then their loud tongue 
told him that they had recovered the scent. But even if 
they should track and run down the fugitive, the fettered 
warrior need not now fear the worst, for Ephraim had a 
long start of his pursuers ; still his heart beat fast, and 
time seemed to stand still till the driver came back again 
exhausted and unsuccessful. But though he, a man of mid- 
dle age, could never have overtaken Ephraim, the two 
youngest and swiftest of his men had been sent after him, 
as he himself announced with scornful fury. 

The man, before so good-natured, was entirely changed ; 
for he felt the lad’s escape as a disgrace he could hardly 
get over, nay, as a positive misfortune. 

And the wretch who had tried to mislead him by crying 
out “ a jackal ” was the fugitive’s accomplice ! Loudly 
did he curse Prince Siptah who had interfered in the duties 
of his place. But it should not happen again, and he would 
make his victims suffer for his misfortune ! The prisoners 
were immediately loaded with chains again. Joshua w'as 
coupled with an asthmatic old man, and the whole gang were 
made to stand in a row, where the fire-light fell on them, 
till daybreak. Joshua could make no reply to the ques- 
tions put to him by his new companion in bonds ; he 
awaited in painful suspense the return of the pursuers. 
Meanwhile lie strove to control his thoughts to prayer, 
beseeching the Lord, who had promised to be his Helper, 
on his own behalf and on that of his nephew. Often 
enough, to be sure, he was interrupted by the driver, who 
vented his wrath on him. 

However, the man who had in his day commanded a 
host submitted to all, and commanded himself to endure 
whatever came like the inevitable discomfort of rain or 
hail ; nay, it cost him some little effort to conceal his glad- 
ness when the young runners who had been after Ephraim 
came in after sunrise, breathless and with disordered hair, 
bringing with them nothing but a dog with a broken 
skull. 

The driver could do no more, therefore, than advise the 
soldiers in the first fort on the Etham frontier, which the 


JOSHUA . 


* 5 ° 

prison-gang must now cross, of what had happened ; and 
to this point the file of men were now led. 

Since Ephraim’s flight all the men on guard had changed 
their tone for a harder one. Yesterday the unhappy 
wretches had been allowed to proceed at an easy pace ; 
now they were hurried on as fast as possible. The day 
was sultry, and the scorching sun struggled with the storm- 
clouds, which were gathering in the north into dense 
masses. Joshua’s frame, inured to every kind of fatigue, 
could resist the severity of this forced march, but his more 
feeble companion, who had grown grey as a scribe, often 
stumbled, and at length lay where he fell. At this the 
driver saw the necessity of placing the sufferer on an ass, 
and fettering Joshua to another companion. This was the 
first man’s brother, an overseer of the king’s stables, a well- 
grown Egyptian who was going to the mines for no other 
excuse than that it was his misfortune to be the brother of 
a state criminal. Linked to this sturdy mate walking was 
much easier, and Joshua listened to him with sincere sym- 
pathy, and tried to cheer him when, in a low voice, he 
confided to him all his woes, lamenting sadly that he had 
left a wife and child at home in want and misery. Two of 
his children had died of the pestilence, and it weighed on his 
heart that he had been prevented from caring for their 
burial, for thus the two beings he had loved were lost to 
him for ever, even in the other world. 

At their second resting place the bereaved father spoke 
more freely. His soul was consumed by thirst for revenge, 
and he took it for granted that his companion felt the same, 
seeing that he had fallen into disgrace from a high office. 
The overseer of the stables had a sister-in-law who was one 
of the ladies about Pharaoh’s court, and through her and 
her sister, his wife, he had been informed that a conspiracy 
against the king was being hatched in the women’s house.* 
Aye, and he knew too who it was that the women purposed 
to set in Menephtah’s place. 

As Joshua looked at him with an inquiring and doubt- 
ful gaze his comrade whispered : 

“ Siptah, the king’s nephew, and his noble mother are at 
the head of the plot. If only I get free I will bear you in 
mind ; and my sister-in-law is sure not to forget me.” 


* The house of the secluded ones; equivalent to the harem of the 
Modem Moslem Egyptians 


JOSHUA . 


x 5 1 

He then desired to know what had brought the Hebrew 
to the mines, and Joshua frankly told him who he was. 
When the Egyptian heard that he was linked together with 
an Hebrew, he tore madly at his chains and cursed his fate ; 
however, his wrath presently died out before the amazing 
coolness with which Joshua endured the hardest things, 
and t p Joshua himself it was a relief that his partner besieged 
his ear less often with complaints and questions. 

For whole hours he would walk on unmolested, and give 
himself up wholly to his longing, to collecting his thoughts, 
to giving himself a clear account of the terrible experiences 
which his soul had gone through in the last few days, and 
to making up his mind to his new and dreadful situation. 

This silent meditation and introspection did him good ; 
and, when they again stopped for the night, he enjoyed 
deep and refreshing sleep. 

When he woke the stars were still bright in the western 
sky, reminding him of the sycamore at Succoth, and the 
all-important morning when his beloved had won him over 
to serve her God. Above him spread the sparkling firma- 
ment, and for the first time he was conscious of a budding 
hope that the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth might 
find some way and means of saving the people He had 
called His own from the overwhelming host of the Egyp- 
tians. 

When he had thus fervently besought the Lord to spread 
His protecting hand over the feeble tribes who, in obedience 
to His word, had left so much behind them, and had so 
confidently set forth for the remote unknown, he com- 
mended his old father, whom he himself could not defend, 
to His especial care, and his soul was filled with wondrous 
peace. 

The shouts of the men on guard, the rattle of fetters, his 
wretched fellow-victims, everything about him kept him in 
mind of the fate before him. He must henceforth toil day 
and night in abject slavery, in a sweltering, choking cavern, 
bereft of the joy of breathing the fresh air of heaven, or 
of seeing the sunshine ; loaded with chains, flogged and 
reviled, starving and athirst, in a gloomy monotony of 
misery, agonizing alike to body and soul ; and yet not for 
a moment did he lose his confident trust that this fearful 
fate was intended for any other rather than for him, and 
that something would intervene to preserve him from it. 


I 5 2 


JOSHUA. 


On their further march eastward, which began at dawn, 
he could only think of this confidence as folly, while he 
strove to cling fast to it, and he succeeded. 

Their way lay across the desert, and after a few hours’ 
brisk march they reached the first fort, called “ Seti’s 
Stronghold.” In the clear air of the desert they had seen 
it for a long time, looking as though they could shoot an 
arrow into it. It stood up from the bare, stony soil, 
ungraced by a palm or a shrub, with its wooden stockade, 
its ramparts, its scarped wall, its watch-tower looking 
westward, with a broad, flat roof swarming with men at 
arms. The garrison had been warned from Pithom that 
the Hebrews were preparing to break through the frontier 
lines on the isthmus, and the gang of prisoners with their 
guards had been taken from a distance for the van of the 
emigrant Israelites. 

From the top of the huge bastions, which projected like 
balconies from all sides of the scarped walls to prevent the 
use of scaling ladders, soldiers were spying out between 
the battlements at the approaching party ; but the archers 
had replaced their arrows in the quivers, for it had at once 
been perceived that the troop was a small one, and a run- 
ner had delivered the pass from the military authorities, 
desiring the captain of the garrison to permit the file of 
prisoners to cross the frontier. The door in the palisade 
was thrown upon to them, and the driver gave them leave 
to stretch their limbs a while on the hot pavement within. 
From hence none could escape, even if the guard left them 
to themselves ; for the fence was too high to climb, and 
arrows shot from the roof of the building or from the loop- 
holes of the projecting battlements would overtake the run- 
away. 

It did not escape the warrior’s eye that everything here 
was in a state of preparation for resistance, as though it 
were war-time. Every man was at his post, and guards 
stood by the great metal gongs on the roof with heavy 
mallets in their hands to beat an alarm at the approach of 
the expected foe ; for, though there was not a tree or a 
house to be seen as far as the eye could reach, the sound 
would ring out to the next fort on the frontier line, and 
warn the garrison, or bring them to the rescue. It was 
not indeed a punishment, but a piece of ill-fortune to be 
quartered in these isolated desert stations, and the chiefs 


JOSHUA . 


153 


of Pharaoh’s army took care that the same companies 
did not remain too long at a time in this wilderness. 

Joshua himself had in former years commanded the most 
southerly of these strongholds, known as Migdol of the 
South ; for the name of Migdol was common to them all, 
meaning in the Semitic tongue a fortress-tower. 

Here his people were evidently still expected ; nor could 
he for a moment think that Moses would have led them back 
into Egypt. Either they had lingered in Succoth, or they 
had marched southwards ; but to the south lay the bitter 
lakes and the Red Sea, and how should the Hebrew mul- 
titude cross those deep waters ? Joshua’s heart beat 
anxiously as he reflected on this, and his fears were pre- 
sently confirmed, for he heard the captain of the fortress 
telling the driver of the gang that the Hebrews had come 
some days since very near the frontier-line of defence, and 
then had turned off to the southward. Since then, it would 
seem that they had been wandering in the desert between 
Pithom and the Red Sea. All this had forthwith been 
reported at Tanis, but the king had been obliged to post- 
pone the departure of the army till after the seven first 
days of deep mourning for the heir to the throne. This 
delay might have given the Israelites an immense advan- 
tage ; but a message had to-day come by a pigeon, announ- 
cing that the foolish multitude were encamped at Pihahiroth, 
not far from the Red Sea, so that it would be an easy task 
for the army to drive them into the waters like a herd of 
cattle, for there was no escape in any other direction. 

The driver had listened to this report with much satis- 
faction, and he whispered a few words to the captain, 
pointing at Joshua, who, for his part, had already recog- 
nized the officer as a companion in arms who had served 
under him as a centurian, and to whom he had shown much 
kindness. It was painful to him to reveal himself in this 
miserable plight to one who had been his subaltern, and 
who owed him a debt of obligation ; and as he looked at 
him, the captain colored, shrugged his shoulders expres- 
sively, as if to convey to Joshua his pity for his ill-fortune 
and the impossibility of doing anything to mend it. Then 
he said in a voice so loud that the Hebrew must hear him : 
“ I am forbidden by the rules to speak with your prisoners, 
but I knew that man in better days, and I will send you 
out some wine, which you will share with him, I beg.” 


154 


JOSHUA. 


When they presently went towards the gateway, the 
driver remarking that Joshua was less deserving of such 
favor than other and weaker men, inasmuch as he had 
assisted the runaway of whom he had spoken to make his 
escape, the captain pushed his fingers through his hair and 
replied : “ I could have wished to show him some kind- 
ness, though, indeed, he owes me much already. But if 
that is the case I had better keep my wine. And you have 
rested quite long enough here ! ” 

The driver wrathfully roused his hapless gang to pro- 
ceed on their way across the desert and onward to the 
mines. 

Joshua now walked with a bowed head. His spirits 
rebelled against the ill-fortune which had led him to this 
pass, driven across the desert, far from his people and his 
father, who must be in great danger at this decisive and 
fateful crisis. Under his guidance the Hebrews might 
perhaps have found a way of escape ! He clenched his 
fists with rage to think that his will as well as his body 
was in chains ; and yet he would not lose heart ; and each 
time that his reason told him that his people were lost, that 
they must perish in this contest, his own name — the new 
name bestowed on him by God — sounded in his ears, and 
his hatred and scorn for everything Egyptian, fanned into 
life by the young officer’s base conduct, flamed up afresh. 

His whole nature was in violent revolt, and as the 
driver marked his burning cheeks and the lurid light in his 
eye, he thought that even this strong fellow had become a 
prey to the fever to which so many prisoners fell victims 
on their way. 

When, at sundown, the melancholy train encamped for 
the night in the heart of the desert, Joshua’s spirit still 
seethed and surged within him, and the scene around him 
matched well with the tumult in his soul. Again the black 
clouds came up from the sea on the north wind, which 
howled, and shrieked, and whirled clouds of burning sand 
over the prisoners as they lay, till the lightning and thun- 
der broke over them with a deluge of rain. A thick layer 
of sand for their coverlet, pools and rivulets were now their 
bed. Their keepers had bound them together by the arms 
and legs, and as they stood, shivering and dripping, they 
still held the ends of the ropes ; for the night was as black 
as the fuel of the fires the storm had extinguished, and 


JOSHUA . 


155 

who could have followed a runaway through such darkness 
and such weather? 

But Joshua had no thoughts of flight. While the 
Egyptians whimpered and quaked, believing that they 
heard the angry voice of Set in the thunder, and while 
blinding sheets of flame flared among the clouds, he felt 
the near presence of that jealous God, whose rage he 
shared, whose hatred was as his own. Here he stood, the 
witness of His All-destroying power, and his breast swelled 
with pride as he said to himself that he had been called to 
wield the sword of the Lord of Lords. 


CHAPTER XX. 

The storm which had risen at nightfall was still sweeping 
over the peninsula. High waves beat in the central lakes, 
and the Red Sea, which formed two creeks from the south, 
like the horns of a snail, was tossing wildly. Further 
north likewise, where Pharaoh’s army had just encamped 
under shelter of the Southern Migdol, the strongest of the 
Etham frontier fortresses, the air was filled with sand by 
the storm ; and in the quarters of the king and his nobles 
hammers were kept constantly at work, driving the tent 
pegs deeper into the ground ; for the brocades, cloth and 
linen, of which Pharaoh’s wandering residence and its sur- 
roundings were formed, were so beaten by the wind that 
they threatened to pull up the poles which supported them. 

Black clouds hung in the north, yet the moon and stars 
were often visible, and distant lightning frequently illumin- 
ated the darkness. But dews of heaven still seemed to 
shun this rainless tract of land, and fires burnt in every 
direction round which thick circles of soldiers were gathered, 
and, like a living screen from the storm, crowded together 
for protection. The men on watch had trying work, for, 
in spite of the north wind, the air was stifling, and con- 
tinually blew gusts of sand full in their faces. 

At the most northern gate of the camp only two 
sentries walked to and fro, keeping a sharp lookout, but 
they were sufficient ; for in consequence of the bad weather 
it was a long time since anyone had appeared to demand 
either admission or exit. At last, three hours after sunset. 


* 5 6 


JOSHUA . 


a slender lad, half boy, half youth, appeared. He went, 
with steady step, up to the watch, and, showing him a 
messenger’s token, asked the way to Prince Siptah’s tent. 
He looked as if he had had a difficult journey ; his thick 
black hair was disheveled, and his feet covered with dust 
and caked in mud. Yet he roused no suspicions, for his 
manner was independent and free, his messenger’s pass 
in perfect order, and the letter which he bore clearly 
directed to the prince ; a scribe of the granary who was 
sitting at the next fire, with other officers and vice-com- 
mandants, confirmed the fact. 

Since the youth’s appearance pleased most of them, and 
as he came from Tanis and perhaps brought news, he was 
invited to take a place at the fire and to share their meal ; 
but he was in haste. 

Thanking them, he refused, answered their questions 
shortly and quickly, and asked one of the company to be 
his guide. Immediately one of them put himself at his 
disposal. But he was soon to learn that it was not easy 
to achieve seeing a member of the royal household ; for 
the tents of Pharaoh, his relations and dignitaries stood 
apart in the very heart of the camp, enclosed by the shields 
of the heavily armed foot-soldiers, and when he tried to 
pass in he was referred from one to another, and his mes- 
senger’s token and the prince’s letter were repeatedly 
examined. His guide was also dismissed, and in his place 
an official of high rank, known as “ the eye and the ear of 
the king,” came forward, and .began to meddle with the 
seal of the letter, but the bearer very decidedly demanded 
the missive back ; and directly he had it in his hand once 
more he went towards two tents, standing side by side and 
shaken by the wind, which were pointed out to him as 
those of Prince Siptah and Kasana, Hornecht’s daughter, 
for whom he also inquired. A chamberlain came out the 
prince’s tent, to whom he showed the letter he bore, 
requesting him to conduct him to his lord ; but the official 
having desired him to hand the letter to him instead of to 
the prince, Ephraim* for he it was, consented to do so on 
condition of the chamberlain’s forthwith procuring him 
admission to Kasana’s presence. 

The steward seemed most anxious to get the letter into 
his own hands. After he had examined Ephraim from top 
to toe, he asked him whether Kasana knew him, and when 


JOSHUA. 


*57 


the other answered in the affirmative, and added that he 
brought a verbal message for her, the Egyptian smiling 
said, “ Good, then ; but we must protect our carpets from 
such feet, and you seem to me altogether exhausted and 
in need of refreshment. Follow me !” 

Thereupon he led him into a little tent, before which an 
old slave and another, who was still almost a child, sat by 
the fire concluding their late meal with a bunch of garlic. 

On seeing their master they sprang up ; he ordered the 
old man to wash the messenger’s feet, and the young one 
to fetch, in his name, meat, bread and wine from the 
prince’s tent. He then took Ephraim into his own tent, 
which was lighted by a lantern, and asked him how it was 
that he, who had looked so little like a serf or a common 
fellow, had such a forlorn appearance. Then the messenger 
answered that he had on his way bound up the wounds of 
a severely injured man with his upper garment, so the 
steward at once reached towards his packages and handed 
him a wrapper of fine linen. 

Ephraim’s reply, which was very near the truth, was 
given with such promptness, and sounded so genuine, that 
it was believed ; and the steward’s kindness so over- 
whelmed him with gratitude that he made no objection, 
when, with a practiced hand, and without damaging the 
seal, he pressed the flexible roll of papyrus, bent the 
separate layers apart, and, peeping in the opening, acquaint- 
ed himself with the contents of the letter. At the same 
time the burly courtier’s eyes glistened brightly, and it 
seemed to the youth that the man’s face, which at first had 
appeared to him with its comfortable fullness and rounded 
smoothness the mirror of great good nature, had become 
like that of a cat. 

As soon as the steward had finished this operation, he 
begged the boy to rest himself thoroughly, and he did not 
return until Ephraim had bathed and stood with the new 
linen cloth round his loins, his hair anointed and scented, 
looking in the mirror, and in the act of putting a broad 
gold hoop round his arm. 

He had hesitated for some time, as he knew he was 
about to face great dangers ; this bracelet, however, was 
his only valuable possession, and he had taken great 
trouble during his captivity to keep it hidden in his loin-cloth. 
It might yet render him good service, but if he wore it it 


158 


JOSHUA. 


would attract attention to his person and increase his risk 
of being recognized. But the image he saw reflected 
in the mirror, his vanity, and the wish to find favor in 
Kasana’s eyes triumphed over prudence, and the costly 
ornament was soon shining on his arm. The chamberlain 
gazed with amazement at the transformation of the un- 
kempt messenger in a proud looking youth, and the 
question rose to his lips whether he were some kin to Kas- 
ana, and when Ephraim replied in the negative, he asked to 
what family he belonged. 

At this, Ephraim stood for some time with downcast 
eyes, and besought the Egyptian to excuse him from reply- 
ing till he should have spoken to Kasana. The other 
shook his head doubtingly as he looked at him, but he 
urged him no further, for what he had discovered from the 
letter was a secret which might cost all who knew it their 
life, and the handsome young bearer must surely be the 
son of some great man implicated in the plot of his master, 
Prince Siptah. 

The stout, well-fed courtier shivered at the thought ; and 
it was with a sympathetic qualm that he looked at this 
blooming flower of humanity, so young to be mixed up in 
such perilous schemes. His lord had so far only hinted at 
the secret to him, so he could still cut himself adrift from 
sharing his master’s destiny. If he parted from him, he 
might look forward to an old age of ease ; but if he clung 
to him, and if the prince’s plot should come to a good issue, 
to what heights might he not rise ! How terribly impor- 
tant was the choice which he, the father of a large family, 
was called upon to make ; the sweat stood on his brow, 
and he was quite incapable of clear reflection, as he con- 
ducted Ephraim to Kasana’s tent and then hastened to his 
master’s. 

All was still in the slight erection of wooden poles and 
heavy, bright-colored stuffs which sheltered the fair widow. 
It was with a beating heart that Ephraim approached the 
entrance, and when at length he took courage and pushed 
aside the curtain which was pegged to the ground, the wind 
filling it like a sail, he saw a dark room opening on either 
hand into another. That to the left was as dark as the 
centre one ; but from the right, lights gleamed through the 
seams in the canvas. 

The tent was one of the long flat-roofed shape, in three 


JOSHUA . 


*59 


compartments, such as he had often seen ; and in the 
room whence the light proceeded, no doubt, was she to 
whom he came. To avoid any further suspicions he must 
overcome his timidity, and he had already stooped to untie 
the knot by which the curtain was held to the peg in the 
ground, when that of the lighted compartment was raised, 
and a woman’s figure came into the dark entrance-room. 

Was it she? Should he venture to address her ? Yes, 
he must. 

He clenched his hands tightly, and with a deep breath 
collected his courage, as though he were about to rush 
upon a beast of prey prowling round a flock. Then he 
pushed the curtain aside and was met with a cry from the 
woman he had before observed ; and he soon recovered 
his courage, for it was not Kasana but the waiting woman 
who had come with her to see the prisoners, and had 
accompanied her to the camp. She recognized him, too, 
and stared at him as though he had risen from the dead. 
They knew each other well ; for, the first time he had 
been carried to Hornecht’s house, it was she who had 
prepared his bath and laid balsam on his wounds ; and on 
the second occasion when they had been inmates under 
the same roof, she and her mistress had nursed him. For 
many an hour had they chatted together, and he knew 
that she was fond of him, for as he lay half conscious, half 
dazed with feverish dreams, she would soothe him with a 
motherly touch, and, as he grew stronger, was never weary 
of questioning him about his people, telling him that she 
herself was a Syrian, of kindred blood to the Hebrews. 
Indeed, his language was not altogether strange to her, for 
it was as a woman of twenty that she had been brought 
to Egypt with other prisoners by Rameses the Great. 
Ephraim, she would say, reminded her of her one son 
when he was younger. From this woman he had nothing 
to fear ; he seized her hand, and said in a low voice that 
he had escaped from his guards, and had come to ask 
counsel of her mistress and herself. The word “ escaped ” 
was enough to reassure the old woman, for spirits, as she 
understood the word, were wont to put others to flight, but 
not to flee. She stroked the lad’s curls, and, before he had 
finished speaking she had left him, hurrying off into the 
other room to inform her mistress that he stood without. 
In a few minutes Ephraim was in the presence of the 


JOSHUA. 


160 

woman who had become the guiding star and warming 
sun of his life. With flushing cheeks he gazed up at her 
lovely features, and although it stabbed him to the heart 
that, before she even vouchsafed him a greeting, she 
inquired whether Joshua were with him, he forgot that 
foolish pang as he noted with what kindness she looked at 
him. And when she asked the strong woman whether she 
did not think him looking fresh and well, and grown more 
manly, he felt as though he was really taller and bigger, 
and his heart beat higher than ever. She insisted on 
knowing all that had happened to his uncle, down to the 
smallest detail ; then after he had done her bidding, and 
at last indulged his desire to speak of his own fortunes, 
she interrupted him to consult with the older woman as to 
how he might be sheltered from malignant eyes and fresh 
dangers ; and the means were soon found. 

First, with Ephraim’s help, the nurse closed the first 
entrance to the tent as completely as possible, and she 
then showed him the dark room, into which he was to 
vanish as quickly and noiselessly as possible whenever 
she should give him a sign. 

Kasana meanwhile had poured out a cup of wine for the 
returned wanderer, and when he came in again with the 
old woman, she bid him lie down on the giraffe skin at 
her feet, and asked him herself how he had got away from 
the watchmen, and what he looked to do in the future. 
She must tell him, in the first instance, that her father had 
remained at Tanis, so he need have no fear of being 
recognized and betrayed by Hornecht. It was easy 
enough to see and hear how glad she was at this meeting ; 
nay, when Ephraim told her that it was in consequence of 
Prince Siptah’s orders that the prisoners should be unfet- 
tered — which they owed solely to her — that he had been 
able to make good his escape, she clapped her hands like 
a child. But then her brow darkened, and she added 
with a sigh, that Joshua should see how much a woman, 
however weak, could sacrifice to attain the dearest wish 
of her heart. Ephraim’s assurance, that before he himself 
stole away he had offered to release his uncle, met with 
its meed of kind words ; and when she learned that Joshua 
had refused his nephew’s help in order that he might not 
imperil the success of the plan he had suggested to him, 
she exclaimed to her waiting woman, with tears in her 


JOSHUA . 


161 

eyes, that no one but he could act so nobly ; and she 
listened eagerly to the rest of his tale, interrupting him 
frequently with sympathetic questions. 

So blissful a close to the fearful days and nights he had 
just passed seemed to him as a beautiful dream, a bewil- 
dering romance ; and he did not need the encouragement 
of the cup she diligently filled for him to make him tell his 
story with eager vivacity. With an eloquence altogether 
new to him he described how, in the ravine, he had slipped 
on a loose stone, and had fallen with it headlong to the 
bottom. There he had thought that all was lost, for soon 
after he had shaken himself clear of the rubbish in which 
he was buried to hurry down to the salt lake, he had heard 
the driver’s whistle. However, from his childhood he had 
always been a good runner, and he had learned in his 
native fields how to read his bearings by the stars, so, 
without looking to the right hand or the left, he had flown 
on as fast as his feet would carry him to the south, always 
to the south. Many times had he fallen in the dark over 
stones or pits in the desert sand, but only to spring up 
again and hurry on, rush on, to where he knew that she, 
Kasana, was — she for whose sake he would unhesitatingly 
cast to the winds all that wise heads could advise — she 
for whom he was ready to give life and liberty. 

How he found courage to make this confession he knew 
not. Nor was he sobered by the rap she gave him with 
her fan, or by the old woman’s exclamation, “ A boy like 
that ! ” No ; his beaming eyes only sought her gaze, as 
they had done before, while he went on with his story. 

He had hurled the dog which had come up with him 
against a rock ; the other he had driven off by plunging a 
stone at him till he retreated whining into a thicket. He 
had seen nothing of any other pursuers neither that night 
nor all the next day. At last he reached a high road and 
came up with some country-folk, who told him which way 
the king’s army had marched. Then, about midday, being 
overcome by fatigue, he had gone to sleep in the shade of 
a sycamore, and when he woke the sun was near sinking. 
He was dreadfully hungry, so he had pulled a few turnips ’ 
in a field as he passed by ; but the owner had immediately 
come forward from a water course at hand, and it was with 
difficulty that he had escaped from his pursuit. During 
part of the next night he had kept to the high road, and 


JOSHUA. 


162 

had rested at last by a well on the way, for he knew that 
wild beasts shun much frequented spots. After sunrise he 
had set forth again, following the road the army had taken, 
and had come upon its traces everywhere. Shortly before 
noon, when he was quite exhausted and sick with fasting, 
he came to a village lying close to the fertile tract watered 
by the Seti canal, and had considered whether it would not 
be well to sell his gold bracelet to purchase some good 
nourishment, and keep some silver and copper coin for 
future need ; but he had feared being taken for a thief and 
cast into prison again, for the thorns had been his raiment, 
and his sandals had long since dropped from his feet. He 
had thought that his misery must move even the hard- 
hearted to pity, so he had knocked at a door and begged, 
bitter as it had been to him. However, he got nothing from 
the peasant but a scornful admonition that such a strong 
young, fellow as he might work for his living, and leave 
begging to the weak and old. A second had threatened 
him with a thrashing ; however, when he had gone some 
'way further, feeling very crestfallen, a young woman, who 
had seen him at the niggard’s door, came after him and put 
a cake of bread with a few dates into his hand, hastily 
telling him that the village had been heavily taxed in the 
course of Pharaoh’s progress, or she would have given him 
something better. No banquet had ever before tasted so 
sweet to him as this unlooked-for gift, which he eat by the 
next well ; but he did not confess to Kasana that it had 
been embittered by the doubt as to whether he should obey 
Joshua’s counsel and return to his own people, or follow 
his heart’s desire which drew him to her. He had started 
again, still undecided, but fate seemed to have taken the 
matter into her own hands. After he had walked on about 
half an hour longer, on reaching the edge of the desert he 
had come upon a youth of about his own age, sitting by 
the way side and moaning as he held one of his feet in 
both hands. He had gone up to him at his call, and to 
his surprise had recognized him as Hornecht’s runner and 
messenger, with whom he had often spoken. 

“ Apoo ! our nimble Nubian ? ” interrupted the lady ; and 
Ephraim went on to tell her that this messenger had been 
sent to carry a letter to Prince Siptah in all haste, and the 
swift*footed lad, who was wont to outrun his master’s 
horses, would have flown like an arrow, and have reached 


JOSHUA . 


163 

his destination in two hours, if he had not trodden on a 
fragment of broken glass, a bottle crushed by some chariot 
wheel, and the cut was dreadfully deep. 

“ And you helped him ? ” asked Kasana. 

“ Could I do otherwise ? ” was the answer. a He had 
half-bled to death already, and was as pale as a sheet. So 
I carried him to the nearest canal and washed the gaping 
wound, and applied some ointment he had with him.” 

“ I put it in his pocket a year ago, in a small pot,” said 
the nurse, who, being easily moved, was wiping her eyes ; 
and Ephraim confirmed the fact, for Apoo had mentioned 
it with gratitude. Then he went on : 

“ And I tore my tunic into strips, and bound it up as 
best I might. But he urged me all the while to make 
haste, and held out the token and the roll which his master 
had entrusted to him, and, knowing nothing of the mis- 
fortunes which had befallen me, he charged me to carry 
the letter to the prince in his stead. Oh ! how gladly I 
undertook to do so, and the second mile was not ended 
when I reached the camp. The letter is in the prince’s hands 
and here am I. I can see by your face that you are well 
pleased. As for me — so happy as I am to sit here at your 
feet and gaze up at you, so thankful as I am to you for 
having listened to me so patiently, surely no one ever was 
in this world ! And if they put me in chains I will bear it 
quietly if only you remain kind. My woes have been so 
many ! I have neither father nor mother — no one to love 
me. Only you. I love none but you, and you will not 
repel me, will you ? ” 

He spoke the last words like one in a frenzy. Carried 
away by his passion, and incapable, after the terrible 
strain of the last days and hours, of governing the over- 
whelming storm of his feelings, the lad sobbed aloud. 
He was scarcely past childhood yet, he had only himself 
to trust to, he had been torn and severed from all that had 
ever upheld and controlled him, and, like a young bird 
taking refuge under its mother’s wings, he hid his face in 
Kasana’s lap, weeping violently. 

Deep compassion came over the tender-hearted young 
woman, and her eyes, too, were moist. She gently laid her 
hand on his hair ; and as she felt the shudder which ran 
through the boy’s whole frame, she raised his head in both 
hands, kissed his forehead and cheeks, and smiling through 
tears, as she looked into his face, said : 


1 64 


JOSHUA . 


“ You poor, foolish boy ! Why should I not be kind, or 
ever repel you ? Your uncle is the man dearest to me in 
the world, and you are like his son. To serve him and 
you I have already consented to do that which I had 
always utterly loathed, refused. But now, come what 
may, and whatever others may think or say of me, I will 
not care if only I can succeed in doing that for which I 
will give my life and all I hold most dear ! Only wait, 
poor, vehement boy,” and again she kissed his cheeks. 
“ I shall find a way for you, too ! Now, enough of this.” 

She spoke firmly, and the words were enough to check 
the excited lad’s excited mood. But suddenly she sprang 
up, crying in terrified haste : “ Fly, fly, begone instantly ! ” 

A man’s footstep approaching the tent and a warning 
word from the waiting woman had brought the brief com- 
mand to Kasana’s lips, and Ephraim’s keen ear told him 
what had roused her fears, and drove him forthwith into 
the dark chamber, where he could satisfy himself that a 
moment’s hesitation would have betrayed him. The cur- 
tain of the tent was lifted and a man walked straight 
through the anteroom to the lighted apartment where 
Kasana — for that, too, he could hear — greeted some new 
guest only too warmly, and as though surprised at his 
coming so late. 

The waiting woman snatched up her own mantle to 
throw over the lad’s bare shoulders, and she whispered to 
him : “ Linger near the tent sometime before sunrise, but 
do not come in till I call you if you love your life. You 
have neither father nor mother, and my child Kasana — a 
loving heart is hers, a heart of gold — she is the best of all 
that is good ; but whether she is fit to guide a foolish 
scapegrace who burns for her like dry straw is quite an- 
other matter. As I listened to your story I thought of 
many things, and as I mean well by you I will tell you 
something : You have an uncle who is the noblest of men. 
I know what men are, and so far my Kasana is right. Do 
his bidding, it will be for your good. Obey him ! And if 
his orders take you far from here and from Kasana, so 
much the better for you. We walk in dangerous places, 
and if it were not for Joshua’s sake I should have done 
everything in my power to hold her back. But for him — 
well, I am an old woman, but for that man even I would go 
through fire and water. I grieve more than I can say for 


JOSHUA . 


l6 5 

that pure, sweet child, and for you who are so like what 
my own son was ; but I say once more, obey your uncle, 
boy, or you will come to an evil end, and that would be a 
pity indeed ! ” 

Then, without waiting for a reply, she pushed him 
towards one of the openings in the canvas wall of the tent, 
and waited till Ephraim had wriggled out. Then she 
dried her eyes and went back into the lighted room as 
though by chance ; but Kasana and her belated visitor 
had matters to discuss which allowed of no witness, and 
her “ dear child ” only suffered her to light her own little 
lamp at the three-armed candelabrum, and then sent her 
to bed. 

She submitted ; but in the darkened room, where her 
bed stood not far from her mistress’, she lay down, and 
then, covering her face with her hands, wept in silence. 


CHAPTER XXI. 

Ephraim crept round the tent he had quitted, pressing 
one ear against the canvas wall. He very cautiously 
undid a few stitches in one of the seams, and so could see 
as well hear what was going on in the lady’s sitting-room. 
The storm kept every one within shelter who was not 
compelled by service to turn out, and Ephraim had the 
less reason to fear discovery because the spot where he 
crouched was in deep shade. The old nurse’s cloak was 
wrapped about him, and though a shudder again and again 
ran through his young limbs, it was bitter grief that 
caused it and anguish of soul. 

He saw Kasana’s head resting on the breast of a prince, 
a great and powerful lover, and the capricious false one 
did not even forbid the bold suitor when his lips sought 
hers for the kisses he desired. She owed no faith to 
Ephraim indeed, but her heart was his uncle’s ; she pre- 
ferred him above all men, she had declared herself ready 
to endure the worst to procure his freedom, and now he 
saw with his own eyes that she was false and faithless, and 
giving to another that which by right was Joshua’s alone. 
To Ephraim himself she had shown favor — the mere 
crumbs which fell from Joshua’s table, and even that, as he 


1 66 


JOSHUA . 


confessed with a blush, was a robbery from his uncle ; 
and he felt himself injured, wounded and betrayed, and on 
fire with jealousy in behalf of his uncle, whom he hon- 
ored, nay, and loved, though he had contravened his 
wishes. 

And Joshua ? He, like Ephraim himself, and like that 
princely personage, like every one in short,. must love her 
in spite of his strange demeanor at the wayside well ; it 
could not possibly be otherwise ; and she, safe from the 
vengeance of the unhappy prisoner, was abandoning her- 
self with cowardly baseness to the caresses of another ! 

Siptah, as he had learnt from their last meeting, was his 
uncle’s foe ; and for him, of all men, she was betraying the 
man she loved. Through the slit in the tent-cloth he 
could see all that went on within, but he closed his eyes 
to avoid seeing many things. More often, indeed, the 
odious spectacle riveted his gaze with a mysterious spell, 
and then he longed to tear the tent wider, to fell the loathed 
foe, and speak words of stern reproof to the faithless 
woman in Joshua’s name. The fierce passion which had 
possessed him was suddenly turned to hatred and scorn. 
From the happiest of human beings, as he had deemed 
himself, he had become the most miserable ; such a fall 
from the highest bliss to the deepest woe, none before him, 
he believed, had ever known. The old nurse had spoken 
truly, there could be nothing in store for him at Kasana’s 
hands but misery and despair. Once he had started to fly, 
but then the bewitching sound of her silvery laugh fell on 
his ear, and a mysterious power held him rooted to the 
spot to listen a little longer. 

At first the rush of blood tingled so fiercely in his ears 
that he was quite incapable of following the dialogue 
within. By degrees, however, he had gathered the pur- 
port of whole sentences, and now he lost not a word that 
was spoken. It was indeed of the greatest interest, though 
it enabled him to look into an abyss which seemed to 
yawn at his feet. 

Kasana by no means yielded to her audacious wooer on 
every point, but this only drew him on to insist passion- 
ately on her entire surrender, body and soul ; and what 
he offered in return was indeed the highest reward — a place 
as queen at his side on the throne of Egypt, for which he 
was plotting. That much he distinctly uttered ; but all 


JOSHUA. 


1 67 

else was hard to follow ; for the vehement lover was in 
haste, and frequently interrupted his incoherent sentences 
to assure Kasana of his unalterable devotion, or to mollify 
her when the audacity of his pretensions roused her fears 
or her disgust. Presently he spoke of the letter which 
Ephraim had brought, and after he had read it aloud and 
explained it to her, the boy perceived, with slight shudder, 
that he himself had now become an accomplice in the most 
detestable of crimes. For a moment he felt prompted to 
betray the traitors, and deliver them into the hands of the 
sovereign whose overthrow they were plotting. But he 
cast this idea from him, and only indulged in the comfort- 
ing reflection — the first that had come to him during this 
dreadful experience — that he _ held Kasana and her prince 
in his clutch like beetles on a thread. This raised his 
spirits and restored his lost confidence and courage. The 
baser the schemes he now overheard, the greater and more 
surely grew his recovered sense of the value of truth and 
right. He remembered likewise an admonition of his 
uncle’s : “ Give no man, great or small, cause to regard 
you with anything but respect, and then you may hold 
your head as high as the proudest hero in his purple tunic 
and gilt breastplate.” 

As he lay trembling with fever on his bed in Kasana’s 
house he had repeated the words many times, but the 
miseries of captivity had banished it from his mind. Not till 
he found himself in the chamberlain’s tent, when the slave 
had held the mirror that he might see himself bathed and 
anointed, had it recurred as a passing thought ; but now 
it wholly possessed his soul. And, strangely enough, the 
royal traitor within the tent wore, in fact, a purple tunic 
and gilt armor, and looked indeed a hero ; but he could 
not hold his head high, for the deed he purposed could only 
succeed in twilight secrecy ; it was like the work of the 
loathsome mole which turns up the earth in darkness. The 
hateful three, falsehood, treachery and perjury, were Sip- 
tah’s tools, and she whom he had chosen to be his accom- 
plice was the woman — at the bottom of his soul he was 
ashamed to own it — the woman for whose sake he had been 
ready to sacrifice all he held sacred, worthy and dear. 

These hideous things, which he had been taught to flee 
from, were but the rungs of the ladder by which that 
wicked man hoped to mount to high estate. Ephraim saw 
it ; all the prince’s plot lay before him as an open book. 


JOSHUA . 


1 68 

The roll the lad had brought to the camp had contained 
three letters. One was from the conspirators in Tanis ; 
the others from Siptah’s mother. She wrote that she looked 
for his speedy return, and informed him that Aarsu, the 
Syrian, the captain of the foreign troops, now in charge of 
the palace, and all in the women’s house, were prepared 
to hail him king. When the high priest of Amon, who was 
at the same time the chief judge, high steward and keeper 
of the seal, should proclaim him, he would be king, and 
could mount the throne unopposed, for the palace was open 
to him. If Pharaoh should return, the body-guards were 
ready to take him prisoner and clear him out of the way 
— as Siptah, who did not love half measures, had secVetly 
commanded, while Baie had voted for his being kept in 
mild captivity. 

The only thing to be feared was the premature reap- 
pearance of Seti, Menephtah’s younger son, now at 
Thebes ; for now that his elder brother was dead, he had 
become heir to the throne, and pigeons had arrived yester- 
day with letters announcing that he was on his way. Thus 
Siptah and the powerful priest who was to proclaim him 
must make the best speed they could. 

The necessary precautions had also been taken to pre- 
vent any possible resistance on the part of the army; as 
soon as the Hebrews were destroyed, the larger portion of 
the troops were to be withdrawn forthwith into the gar- 
risons they had left ; the body-guard were attached to Sip- 
tah, and the rest, who would escort the royal party back to 
the capital, could, if it came to the worst, easily be over- 
powered by Aarsu and his mercenaries. 

“ Nothing now remains for me to do,” cried the prince, 
stretching himself with evident enjoyment, like a man who 
had successfully achieved a difficult undertaking, “ but 
to make my way back to Tanis with Baie a few hours 
hence, to let myself be crowned and proclaimed in the 
temple of Amon, and finally make my entry into the palace 
of the Pharaohs. The rest is all a matter of course. Seti, 
who is called the heir to the crown, is as weak a creature 
as his father, and will bend to the accomplished fact, to 
necessity and force. The captain of the body-guard will 
take care that Menephtah never enters the palace again.” 

The prince’s mother had written a second letter ad- 
dressed to Pharaoh himself, to justify Siptah and the high 


JOSHUA . 


169 


priest in returning to the capital in all haste, without 
exposing themselves to the imputation of cowardice in 
leaving the army immediately before a battle. Although 
she had never in her life been in better health, she declared, 
with hypocritical prayers and lamentations, that her hours 
were numbered, and implored the king to release her son 
and Baie forthwith from their duties, that she might be 
allowed to bless her only child before she died. She had 
many sins on her conscience, and none but the high priest 
had it in his power to intercede for her for the mercy of the 
gods. Without his mediation she must depart in despair. 
This letter, too, the vile traitor had read, and had pro- 
nounced it a master-piece of woman’s cunning, rubbing 
his hands with glee as he spoke. 

Treason, murder, dissimulation, base deceit, a mockery 
of all the most sacred feelings, everything foul and mean, 
were to be Siptah’s aids to mounting the throne, and 
though Kasana had wrung her hands and shed some tears 
when he told her that Pharaoh was to be put out of the 
way, she grew calmer as the prince represented to her 
that her own father approved of what he had decided on 
to save Egypt from the hand of the king who was bring- 
ing the land to ruin. 

The letter from the prince’s mother to Pharaoh — the 
mother who was spurring on her own son to ruthless 
crime — was the last thing Ephraim stayed to hear ; for the 
young Hebrew, accustomed to regard the bond between 
parents and children as reverend and pure beyond all 
others, was moved by it to such a sudden frenzy that he 
raised his fist, and as he sprang away he muttered a word 
of scorn and abuse. Thus he did not hear how Kasana 
made the prince pledge his word that, if he rose to power, 
he would grant her her first request. It should cost him 
neither money nor lands, and merely afford her the privilege 
of showing mercy at the dictate of her heart, for events 
were impending which must provoke the wrath of the gods, 
and she only implored to be allowed to mitigate it. 

Ephraim could not bear to see or to hear any more of this 
revolting scene. Now, for the first time, he began to 
understand what danger he had run of allowing himself to 
be drawn into this slough, and becoming a lost and repro- 
bate wretch ; but surely, he thought, he could never have 
been so base, so abominable as these two. Once more he 


170 


JOSHUA . 


remembered his uncle’s words, and he threw back his 
haughty head, and his deep chest swelled as though he 
would assure himself of his own unbroken strength ; and 
he said to himself, as he drew a deep breath, that he was 
fit for better things than being wasted on a bad woman, 
even if, like Kasana, she were the fairest and most bewitch- 
ing creature under heaven. Away, away ! far from the 
snare which might have led him to murder and every kind 
of evil ! 

Fully determined to return to his own people, he made 
his way to the entrance to the camp ; but he had gone only 
a few steps when he stopped, and a glance at the sky 
showed him it was not more than two hours past midnight. 
All was still. Only from the pen where the king’s horses 
were enclosed he heard now and then the rattle of harness 
or the blow of a hoof. If lie attempted at this hour to 
make his escape he must certainly be detected and 
detained ; prudence enjoined him to curb his impatience 
for a little while, and as he looked about him his eye fell 
on the chamberlain’s tent, from which the old slave came 
out to look for his master, who was still awaiting Siptah’s 
return in the prince’s quarter. This old man had been 
kind before to Ephraim, and he now with friendly urgency 
bid him enter the tent and rest, for youth, said he, requires 
sleep. Ephraim accepted the well-meant invitation, for he 
now began to feel how badly his feet ached ; hardly had 
he stretched himself on the mat — the old slave having 
spread his own for him — when he felt as if his limbs 
were dropping off ; however, he thought he should here 
have time and peace for reflection. 

He began by thinking of the future and his uncle’s in- 
junctions. That he must forthwith rejoin his people was 
quite clear, and if they escaped alive from Pharaoh’s host, 
let the rest do what they would, his first duty would be 
collect his herdsmen, his servants and his younger friends, 
and hasten at their head to the mines to strike off Joshua’s 
chains, and conduct him home to his old father and his 
people who needed him so sorely. He fancied he could 
see himself with his sling at his girdle and a battle-axe in 
his hand marching on in front of the rest, when sleep over- 
powered him, and wrapped the weary youth in oblivion so 
deep and sweet that not even a dream approached his 
pillow, and the old slave had to shake him in order to rouse 
him at day-break. 


JOSHUA . 


171 

The camp was already astir : tents were being taken 
down, asses and ox-carts loaded, horses combed and shod, 
chariots cleaned, weapons and vessels polished, and the 
first meal of the day distributed and eaten. Meanwhile 
trumpet-calls rang out on one hand, words of command on 
the other, and from the eastern side of the camp rose the 
chant of priests devoutly greeting the new-born god of 
day. 

Active servants now brought out a gilt chariot in front 
of the splendid purple tent next to Kasana’s, and another 
not less splendid followed. Prince Siptah and the high 
priest had received permission from Pharaoh to return to 
Tanis, at the desire of a dying woman. Shortly after 
Ephraim took leave of the friendly slave, charging him to 
return the cloak to Kasana’s nurse, and to tell her that 
the messenger had followed her advice and his uncle's. 
Then he set forth on his journey. 

He got out of the precincts of the Egyptian tents with- 
out let or hindrance, and when he found himself out in the 
desert he uttered the cry by which he was wont to collect 
his shepherds in the pastures. The call rang out across 
the wide plain, startling a sparrow-hawk which was spying 
the distance from the top of a rock, and as the bird soared 
up the lad felt as though, if he opened out his arms, 
wings must sprout strong enough to bear him through the 
air. Never had he felt so strong and agile, so light and 
free ; and if the priest could at this moment have asked 
whether he would become a captain over thousands in 
Pharaoh’s army, he would certainly have answered, as he 
had done by Nun’s ruined dwelling, that he asked no better 
lot than that of a shepherd, free to govern his herds and 
servants. He was an orphan, but yet he had his people to 
whom he belonged, and where they were was his home. 
Like a traveler who, after long journeying, finds himself 
near home, he now hastened his steps. 

He had arrived at Tanis in the night of the new moon, 
and the full disk which he now saw paling in the dawn was 
the same as he had then gazed on ; but he felt as though 
years had elapsed between his leave-taking of Miriam and 
this day, for indeed a whole lifetime of new experience had 
been crowded into these few days. He had come forth as 
a boy; he was returning a man to his own folk, and, 
thanks to the events of this one dreadful night, he was the 


172 


JOSHUA. 


same as he had ever been, and could look boldly in the face 
of each one whom he loved and looked up to with rever- 
ence. 

Nay, more. He would show the man whom he held high 
above all others that he, Ephraim, might carry his head 
erect. He would repay Joshua for what he had done for 
him, by being content to remain in bonds and fetters in 
order that his nephew might flee away as free as a bird. 

He had walked above an hour when he came to a ruined 
watch tower. He climbed up it, and from thence he 
descried at no great distance, on the hither side of the 
hill of Baal-Zephon which he had long seen towering 
above the horizon, the gleaming waters of the northern 
arm of the Red Sea. The storm was lulled, still he could 
see from the swaying of the emerald surface that the sea 
was not yet calm, and a few black piles of cloud on the 
sky, which just now had been so clear, seemed to threaten 
a gathering storm again. He looked about him on all 
sides, wondering what the leaders of the people could be 
thinking of it ; indeed, as Siptah had told Kasana, they 
purposed to encamp between Pihahiroth, of which he now 
saw the tents and huts close before him on the shore of the 
canal of Seti, and the hill of Baal-Zephon. 

Had Siptah spoken falsely? No, indeed! The base 
traitor had this once departed from his habits. Between the 
village and the lake, where the wind was whirling thin 
pillars of smoke, his sharp eyes descried a multitude of 
white objects looking like a distant flock of sheep, and 
among and around them a strange stir and bustle on the 
sand. This was the camp of the Israelites. 

How small the space appeared which parted him from 
them. But the nearer they seemed the greater was his 
anxiety, as he reflected that this vast multitude, with its 
women and children, its herds and tents, could never 
escape the mighty host which in a few hours must inevi- 
tably fall upon them. His heart swelled within him as he 
looked further afield ; for neither to the east, where 
stretched a broad pool of water, nor to the south, where 
the waves of the Red Sea were surging, nor to the north, 
whence Pharaoh’s army was marching down on them, was 
there any way to fly. To the west lay the desert of 
Etham, and if the wanderers turned thitherward they 
would soon be on Egyptian soil, and the exodus would 


JOSHUA . 


*73 


have been in vain. There was nothing for it but to give 
battle, and as he thought of it his blood ran cold, for he 
well knew the ill-armed, undisciplined forces of the 
Hebrews, half wild and refractory, half cowardly and con- 
temptible, and he had seen the march past of the num- 
berless and well-equipped Egyptian army, with its strong 
force of foot-soldiers and splendid war-chariots. 

He now thought, as his uncle had thought, that the 
Hebrews were doomed to certain destruction, unless the 
God of their fathers should save them. Miriam had indeed 
many a time, and again just before his departure, praised 
that Almighty Lord and His glory with flashing eyes and 
inspired words ; that God who had chosen his people 
above all other people. The words of the prophetess had 
filled his childish soul with vague terrors of this God’s 
immeasurable greatness and awful wrath. He had found it 
easier to uplift his spirit to the Sun-god when his teacher, 
a kind and genial Egyptian priest, had led him into the 
temple at Pithom. As he grew older he had entirely 
ceased to feel the need of turning to any god in prayer ; for 
he craved nothing, and while other boys were still obedient 
to their parents’ will, the shepherds, who knew full well that 
he was the owner of the flocks they tended, had called him 
their lord, and, at first in jest but then in earnest, had done 
him service as their master ; thus his independence had 
been early fostered, and he had grown to be but a wrong- 
headed lad. Healthy and strong, looked up to by men 
older than himself, he was wholly self-sufficient, and felt 
that others depended on him ; and as there was nothing he 
liked so little as asking anything of any one, great or small, 
it misliked him to pray even to a God who was so far and 
so high above him. But at this moment, when the fearful 
fate impending over his people weighed so heavily on his 
heart, a sense came upon him that only this great and 
mighty God could deliver them out of their fearful and 
pressing peril ; that none could withstand this vast host 
but only He in whose power it lay to break the heavens 
and the earth in pieces. 

And what was he that the Most High, whom Miriam and 
Joshua had described as of such majesty, should care for 
him ? But his people were many thousands, and God 
had not scorned to make them His own, and to promise 
them great things. They were standing on the verge of 


i 7 4 


JOSHUA . 


destruction, and he, fresh from the evening’s camp, was 
perchance the only soul who understood how great was 
their peril. 

A conviction suddenly came over him that it was he, 
therefore, above all others, whose task it must be to warn 
the God of his fathers of the great danger which threatened 
His people, and to beseech Him to save them ; He, caring 
for the whole heaven and earth, the sun and the stars, had 
perhaps forgotten them. The lad was still standing on the 
top of the ruined tower, and from thence he uplifted his 
arms and face to heaven. 

To the north he saw the dark clouds, which he had 
observed rising over the blue sky, suddenly part and roll 
asunder on either hand. The wind which had died away 
after sunrise now gained force and swiftness, and soon 
rose to a storm again. It swept across the isthmus in 
gusts which succeeded each other with increasing rapidity, 
carrying before it dense pillars of yellow sand. 

He must cry aloud, very loud, if He whom he entreated 
was to hear him in high heaven, and with all the strength 
of his young lungs he shouted against the storm : 

“ Adonai, Adonai ! Thou whose name is Jehovah, 
Thou great God of my fathers, hearken unto me, Ephraim, 
who am but young and of no account, and whom, inasmuch 
as I am but naught, Thou had not remembered. For my- 
self I ask not. But the people whom Thou hast called 
Thine are in great straits. They have left their safe 
dwellings and good pastures by reason that Thou hast 
promised them a better and a fairer land, and that they 
trusted in Thee and in Thy word. And now the host of 
Pharaoh is drawing near, and it is so great that our people 
can never withstand it. Believe me it is so, Eloi, my 
Lord. For I have seen it, and have been in the midst 
of it, and as surely as I stand here I know that the Egyp- 
tians are too many for Thy people. Pharaoh’s host will 
trample them under foot as the hoof of the ox tramples the 
grain on the threshing floor. And my nation, who are Thy 
people, are encamped in a place where the warriors of 
Pharaoh can cut them off from all sides, so that there is no 
way left them by which they may escape ; not one, for I 
have seen it from this spot. Hear me, O Adonai ! — But 
canst Thou hear my cry, O Lord, in such a storm ? Yea, 
surely Thou canst, for Thou art almighty, and if Thou hear 


JOSHUA . 


175 


me and understand, Thou mayest, if Thou wilt, behold with 
Thine own eyes that I speak the truth. Then remember, 
O Lord, and fulfill the promise Thou hast made to Thy 
people by the mouth of Thy servant Moses. 

£ ‘ I have seen treason among the Egyptians, and murder, 
and base cunning, and their doings have filled me, who am 
but a simple lad, with rage and horror. And how shouldst 
Thou, from whom all good things come, and whom Miriam 
names as Truth itself, deal with us even as those accursed 
ones do, and break Thy word and promise to Thy people 
who trust in Thee ? I know, O Lord Most High, that this 
is far from Thee, and perhaps it is sin only to think of it. 
Hear me, Adonai ! Behold and look to the north upon the 
tents of Egypt, which by this hour are leaving their camp 
and moving on ; look to the south upon the peril of Thy 
people, and how that they have no way of escape, and save 
and deliver them by the help of Thy might and great wis- 
dom ; for Thou hast promised them a new land, and if they 
are utterly cut off how may they reach it ? ” 

Thus he ended this guileless, untutored prayer, but it 
flowed from the depth of his heart. 

Then he sprang away from the heap of ruins with wide 
leaps, across the desert at his feet, and ran on towards the 
south as swiftly as though he were again fleeing from 
captivity. He felt the rushing blast from the north-east 
driving him on, and thought how it would hasten the ad- 
vance of Pharaoh’s foot-soldiers. The leaders of his people 
did not know perhaps how vast was the host which threat- 
ened them, and under-estimated the danger of their position. 
But he saw it, and could give them the fullest information. 
But he must hasten, fly, and he felt as though in this race 
before the storm his feet had really got wings. 

He had soon reached the village of Pihahiroth, and, as he 
fled through it without pausing for an instant, he perceived 
that man and beast had deserted the tents and dwellings. 
The inhabitants had no doubt found a place of refuge for 
themselves and their belongings from the coming army, or 
from the emigrant Hebrews. As he went on, the clouds 
grew darker and darker — and rarely indeed was the sky 
overcast here at mid-day — and the wilder blew the storm. 
His thick hair flew about his hot head, his breath came 
hard, still on he sped ; he felt as if his feet scarcely touched 
the ground at all. 


1 7 6 


JOSHUA . 


As he got nearer to the sea the blast howled and shrieked, 
the waves, lashed to fury, beat in thunder on the rocks at 
the foot of the hill of Baal-Zephon. Now, within a short 
hour after leaving the ruins, he had reached the first tents 
of the encampment, and the familiar cry of “ Unclean ! ” 
as well as the mourning garb of the people, whose disfigured 
faces looked forth from the wreck of the tents beaten down 
by the wind, told him that he had come upon the lepers’ 
quarters, placed by Moses outside the camp. Still, he was 
in such haste that he did not make a circuit, but ran straight 
on at his utmost speed. Nor did he pause till a tall palm 
tree, uprooted by the blast, came to the ground so close to 
him that its tuft of leaves swept him as it fell. 

At last he was among the tents and penfolds of his own 
tribe, and many of these had likewise been overturned. 

He inquired of the first man he recognized for Nun, the 
father of Joshua and of his deceased mother. He had 
gone to the seashore with Moses and the elders of the 
people, and Ephraim followed him thither, the moist salt 
air refreshing him and cooling his brow. Yet he might not 
immediately speak with him, so he collected his thoughts 
and reserved his breath, while he watched the elders who 
were in discussion with a party of gaily-clad Phoenician 
boatmen. 

He, being so much younger, was forbidden to disturb 
the venerable leaders of the people in the council which 
evidently had reference to the sea, for the Hebrews were 
pointing to the head of the bay, and the Phoenicians waved 
their hands now towards the mountain and now to the sea, 
or the sky, or the north, whence came the still-increasing 
storm. 

A jutting wall sheltered the party of elders from the 
hurricane, and yet they had great difficulty in keeping their 
feet with the help of their staves and the stone-work be- 
hind them. 

At last the discussion came to an end ; the lad saw the 
gigantically tall figure of Moses slowly and majestically go 
down to the edge of the sea with some other leaders of the 
Hebrews, while Nun, supported by one of his herdsmen, 
toiled back against the wind to the camp with what speed 
he might. He wore a mourning robe, and, whereas the 
others looked glad and hopeful as they parted, his hand-, 
some face, with its crown and beard of white hair, wore a 


JOSHUA 


177 


look of crushing and heart-breaking grief. When Ephraim 
spoke his name he raised his bent head, and, seeing the lad 
before him, tottered backwards with surprise and misgiving, 
clinging tightly to the stalwart arm which upheld him. 
News had been sent to him of his son’s and his grandson’s 
terrible fate from the freed slaves he had left behind him in 
Tanis. The old man had rent his garments, had thrown 
ashes on his head and put on mourning raiment, and broken 
his heart for his beloved and noble son and his promising 
young grandson. 

Now Ephraim was before him in the flesh ; and when he 
had laid his hand on the lad’s shoulder, and kissed him 
again and again, he inquired whether his son, too, was still 
in the land of the living and remembered him and his 
people. As soon as the youth had assured him that he 
did, Nun laid his arm across his shoulders that he, his own 
flesh and blood and no stranger, might shield him from the 
violence of the storm. 

He had a solemn and imperative duty to fulfill, from 
which no man might hinder him, but when the eager youth 
shouted in his ear above the roar of the hurricane, as they 
went back to the camp, that he meant to gather together 
his shepherds and the young men of his tribe to rescue 
Hosea, who was now called Joshua, the patriarch’s vehe- 
ment vigor was stirred, and clasping his grandson to his 
heart he exclaimed that, old as he was, yet was he not too 
old to wield an axe and go forth with the young ones to 
deliver his son. And his eyes flashed through tears, while, 
with the arm that was free, he appealed to Heaven, crying : 

“ The God of my fathers in whom I have learned to trust 
watches over the faithful ! Do you see the sand over there at 
the head of the bay, the seaweed and shells ? Only an hour 
ago that was covered by water, foaming waves were dan- 
cing over the spot. That, boy, is the way deliverance lies ; 
if this wind holds, the tide will ebb further still, so the Phce 
nician seamen assure us. Their god of the north wind, 
they say, is favorable to us, and their youths have lighted 
a fire to the god up there on the heights of Baal-Zephon. 
But we know that it is another God who hath opened a way 
for us into the desert. We were in sore straits, my son ! ” 

“ Yes, grandfather,” cried the boy. “You were as a lion 
in a pitfall, and the Egyptian tent is mighty and uncon- 
querable : every man of that host have I seen march past, 
12 


1 7 8 


JOSHUA . 


from the first even to the last. I flew as fast as my feet 
might bear me to tell you all how many heavy troops, 
archers, horses and chariots.” 

“We know it, we know it,” interrupted the old man. 
“ But here we are ! ” and he pointed to a tent completely 
blown in, which some serving men were endeavoring to 
propup, and close to it sat a very old Hebrew in a litter, 
Elishama, the father of Nun, wrapped in many robes. 

Nun eagerly spoke a few words to him, and led Ephraim 
forward. And then, while the lad fell on his great-grand- 
father’s neck to be caressed and .embraced, Nun spoke with 
youthful spirit to the herdsmen and servants : 

“ Let the tent fall, men ! The storm has only done your 
task for you ! Wrap the canvas about the poles, load the 
carts and beasts. Hasten now, you Gad, Shammua, Jacob ; 
help the others. The hour of our departing is at hand. 
Each man make haste to harness the beasts, to saddle and 
load the asses with all speed. The Lord hath opened a 
way for us. In the name of the Lord, and by the com- 
mands of Moses, each must make ready for departing. 
Every man keep to the old order. We march first at the 
head of the host ; then come the other tribes, and after 
them the strangers ; last of all the lepers and unclean. 
Rejoice, all ye people, for our God is working a great 
wonder, and making the sea dry land for us, His chosen 
people. Give thanks to Him while you labor, and entreat 
Him from the bottom of your hearts that He will ever pro- 
tect us. He who would not perish at the edge of the 
sword, or be crushed under the wheels of Pharaoh's 
chariots, let him put forth his strength and forget to rest. 
We shall find rest as soon as we have escaped from this 
peril. Give me the tent cloth ; I will roll it up myself. 
And do your part, boy. See the children of Manasseh 
yonder, they are packing and loading ! Well done, Ephraim, 
you know how to use your hands ! But there is yet 
much to be done. And my old head forgets. So much 
has come upon me at once. Here, Raphu, you have 
swift legs ; I took it upon me to give warning in the camp 
of the strangers. Hasten to them, and bid them speed 
their departing, that they be not too far behind the people 
of Israel. Time is precious ! O Lord, our God, shelter 
Thy people with Thy protecting hand, and drive the waters 
further and further back with the storm which is Thy 


JOSHUA . 


179 


rn'ighty breath ! Pray, each one of you, in your heart, 
while you work. The Almighty and All-knowing God, who 
sees into your hearts, shall hear. That is too heavy a 
burthen for you, Ephraim ; you will hurt yourself. No ! 
The boy is a strong boy ! Do as he does, and ye of Suc- 
coth, rejoice in the strength of your young master ! ” 

The last words were addressed to Ephraim’s shepherds, 
serving men and women, most of whom ‘had greeted him 
in the midst of their toil, had kissed his hand or his arm, 
and been glad at his home-coming. They were packing 
and loading, folding and fitting, and getting the beasts 
together which had been scared by the storm with many 
blows and much outcry. 

The men of Succoth were zealous to imitate their young 
master, those from Tanis to serve their master’s grandson ; 
the other herd-owners and humbler folk of the tribe of 
Ephraim, whose tents had clustered round tha| of Nun, their 
elder, were all no less eager ; and yet it was some hours 
before all the tents, the house-gear and the victuals for 
man and beast had found a place in the carts or on the 
beasts of burden, and the old, the sick, and the feeble were 
laid in litters and chariots once more. 

The wild wind now and then brought the sound of 
Moses’ deep voice, or Aaron’s lighter tones, to the spot 
where the Ephraimites were busy. Neither they nor the 
sons of Judah needed this to spur them ; for Hur and 
Nahshon commanded these last, and by the side of Hur 
stood Miriam, his newly-wedded wife. With the other 
tribes and the strangers it was otherwise ; and the stiff- 
necked and cowardly conduct of their leaders had resulted 
in much misery and confusion. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

It had been found to be impossible to break through the 
frontier lines of Etham and follow the nearest road to 
Palestine in a north-easterly direction ; and the second 
plan proposed by Moses, that they should march round 
Migdol of the South, had likewise failed, for spies had 
reported that the garrison there had been strongly rein- 
forced. Hereupon the multitude had assembled round the 


i8o 


JOSHUA . 


man of God, and had declared that sooner would they 
return home with all their families, and appeal to Pharaoh’s 
mercy, than suffer themselves, their wives and their child- 
ren to be butchered. 

For many days it had been necessary to keep them back, 
but when fresh messengers brought word that Pharaoh was 
running down on them with a mighty host, the time seemed 
to be at hand when the Hebrews, who were now in the 
greatest peril, must be urged to force their way onward. 
Moses had exerted the full weight of his commanding indi- 
viduality, and Aaron all the powers of his persuasive 
eloquence, while old Nun and Hur had striven to infuse 
some of their own fiery spirit into the rest. But the terri- 
fying tidings had broken the last remnant of courage and 
faith in most of the people, and they had already determined 
to send word to Pharaoh of their repentance ; but the mes- 
senger whom they had despatched turned back, declaring 
that the approaching army had orders not to spare a single 
Hebrew, but to teach even those who should pray for 
mercy at the point of the sword how Pharaoh would 
punish those who, by their magic arts, had brought death 
and misery on so many Egyptians. Thus had they learned 
too late that their return would lead them to destruction 
no less surely than a bold advance. But when, on this, 
the fighting men led by Hur and Nun had proceeded 
almost as far as Migdol of the South, they had turned and 
fled at the loud blast of the Egyptian trumpets, and by 
the time they returned to the camp, weary, dispirited and 
wroth, fresh and exaggerated reports of the might of Pha- 
raoh’s host had been brought to the Hebrews, and mortal 
fear and despair had fallen on even the bravest. Exhorta- 
tion was cast to the winds ; threats were laughed to scorn ; 
and the rebellious multitude had forced their leaders 
onward till they had reached the shores of the Red Sea, and 
its deep green waters compelled them to give up all further 
flight to the southward. So the people had encamped be- 
tween Pihahiroth and Baal-Zephon, and here, once more, 
their chief had called upon them in the name of the God 
of their fathers. In the face of certain destruction, 
from which no human power could save them, they had 
been brought to lift their eyes to Heaven again ; and in the 
soul of Moses pity and sympathy had revived more 
strongly for the hapless and much-tried people who had 


JOSHUA. 


181 


come forth at his bidding. During the past night he had 
gone up into the mountain of Baal-Zephon, and there, amid 
the roaring of the storm and hissing flare of the lightning, 
he had sought and found communion with the Lord. And 
he had not wearied laying before Him the evil flight of his 
people, and beseeching Him to deliver them. 

In that same hour had Miriam, the wife of Hur, gone 
down to the sea-shore to entreat the Lord likewise, under 
a solitary palm tree, for still she felt herself His chosen 
handmaid. She besought Him for the women and children, 
whose trust in Him had brought them to this pass. And 
she would fain have prayed for the friend of her youth 
who was now pining in fearful captivity ; but as she fell on 
her knees she could only say in a timid and broken voice : 

“ Forget not Thou Hosea, whom I at Thy word named 
Joshua, albeit he hath been less obedient to Thy call 
than Moses, my brother, or Hur, my husband ! Forget not, 
either, young Ephraim, the grandson of Thy faithful servant 
Nun.” 

Then she went back to her husband’s tent, a chiefs 
tent, while many a humbler man and many a poor terrified 
woman of the people, outside their wretched shelter or lying 
on a thin mat wet with tears, uplifted an anxious heart to 
the God of their fathers, and commended to His care those 
whom they loved best. Thus, in this night of sorest need, 
the camp was a temple in which high and low, chief 
and mother, master and slave, nay, even the afflicted leper, 
sought and found the Lord. 

At last the morning had dawned when Ephraim had 
spoken his childlike prayer, shouting it down the storm, 
and the sea was beginning to retire. 

Then, when they beheld with their own eyes the miracle 
which the Most High had wrought for His chosen people, 
the most despairing and fearful became so many glad and 
hopeful believers. Not among the sons of Ephraim only, 
among all the tribes, nay, and the strangers and unclean, 
their newly-awakened and joyful confidence moved each 
one to prepare with all his strength for further journeying ; 
and for the first time the multitude assembled without 
strife or jealousy, without fighting, curses, and tears. 

After sunset Moses, staff in hand, and Aaron, singing 
and praying, led the way to the head of the gulf. The 
storm, which was raging as wildly as ever, had swept back 


1 82 


JOSHUA. 


the waters, and bore down the flames and smoke of the 
torches which were carried at the head of each tribe, from 
north-east to south-west. 

Next to the two great leaders, on whom every eye was 
fixed with eager anticipation, Nun marched with the 
children of Ephraim. The sea-bottom on which they trod 
was firm damp sand on which even the cattle could safely 
cross as on a smooth highway, gently sloping towards the 
sea. Ephraim, who was regarded by his elders as 
the future head of his tribe, had, by his grandfather’s 
desire, undertaken to be careful that the train of men and 
beasts should not come to a standstill, and to this end he 
had been entrusted with a chiefs staff. The fishermen 
who dwelt in the huts which clustered at the foot of Baal- 
Zephon agreed with the Phoenician seamen in saying that 
as soon as the moon had reached the zenith the waters 
would rise again to their old place, so no delay could be 
allowed. The lad gloried in the storm, and as his hair 
blew about his face, and he fought against the wind while 
he hurried to and fro in fulfillment of his task, this felt to 
him as a foretaste of the great enterprise he had in his 
mind. 

Thus matters sped through the darkness which quickly 
followed on the twilight. The strong smell of the fish left 
on dry land was pleasanter to the youth, who now felt him- 
self a man indeed, than the sweet fragrance of nard in 
Kasana’s tent. Once the thought of her flashed through 
his mind ; but indeed, during these times, he had had no 
time to think of her. His hands were quite full ; here the 
seaweed must be cleared aside which a wave had left in 
the way; there the ram of a flock which hesitated to set 
foot on the moist ground must be seized by the horns and 
dragged forward, or the oxen and beasts of burthen driven 
through a pool they were shy of. Many times he had to 
lend a shoulder to lift a heavily laden cart of which the 
wheels had sunk in the soft sand, and when, just as they 
were starting on this strange and momentous journey, even 
on the Egyptian shore, a dispute arose between two herds- 
men as to which should have the lead, he promptly settled 
by lot which was to go forward and which to follow. 
Two little girls were crying and refusing to cross a pool 
while their mother’s arms were occupied with her infant ; 
he picked them" up with swift decision and carried them 


JOSHUA . 


1*3 

across the shallow lakelet ; and when a wheel came off one 
of the wagons, he immediately had it dragged out of the 
way, and by the light of the torches he made some of the 
serfs who were least heavily loaded carry each a sack or a 
bale, nay, and even the pieces of the broken vehicle. He 
had comforting words for weeping women and children, 
and if the flare of a torch showed him the face of some 
youth of his own age, whose aid he hoped to secure for 
liberating Joshua, he hinted to him in a few spirited words 
that he had a bold deed in prospect which he proposed to 
achieve with the help of his friend. 

The incense bearers, who had hitherto led the way, on 
this occasion closed the march, for the wind blowing from 
the north-east would have driven the smoke in the face of 
the people. They stood on the Egyptian shore, and soon 
all the multitude had passed them by, excepting only the 
strangers, and the lepers, who came last of all. The 
foreigners were indeed a motley host, consisting of Asiatics 
of Semitic blood, who were fleeing from the forced labor 
and cruel punishments which were inflicted on them by 
the law of Egypt ; of dealers, who had found buyers for 
their wares among the thousands of wanderers, and even 
of Shasoo shepherds who had been hindered from crossing 
the frontier on their return home. With these Ephraim 
had much trouble, for they refused to leave the dry land 
until the lepers had been enjoined to remain at a greater 
distance from them ; but even they were brought to sub- 
mission by Ephraim, with the help of the chief of the tribe 
of Benjamin, which marched last in front of them ; for he 
warned them of the prophecy of the Phoenicians and fisher- 
men, that the moon as it sank would bring the sea back 
to its old bed. Finally, he persuaded the leader of the 
lepers, an intelligent Egyptian, who had been a priest, 
to maintain at least half the distance that was demanded. 

Meanwhile the tempest continued to rage with increasing 
fury ; the roar and long-drawn shrieks of the wind, mingling 
with the thunder of the breakers and the duller moan of 
the surf, drowned the shouts of command, the wailing of 
the women, the bellowing and the bleating of the trem- 
bling beasts and the whining of the dogs. Ephraim’s voice 
was audible only to those nearest to him ; many torches 
were extinguished, and the rest kept alight with difficulty. 
At length, when for one short space he had been walking 


184 


JOSHUA . 


behind the last of the lepers, going slowly to recover his 
breath and get a little rest, he heard his name called from 
the rear, and, turning round, beheld an old playmate who 
was returning from spying the enemy, and who, seeing the 
leader’s staff in the lad’s hand, shouted in his ear with 
panting gasps that Pharaoh’s chariots were coming on in 
the van of the Egyptian host. He had left them by Piha- 
hiroth, and if they had not waited to let the other troops 
come up with them, they might at any moment overtake 
the fugitives. Thereupon he again pressed forward to 
reach the leaders of the multitude. But Ephraim stood 
still a moment in the middle of the way with his hand held 
to his brow, and great anxiety came down on his soul. He 
knew full well that the approaching army would overrun 
the women and children whom he had just seen in all their 
pathetic terror and helplessness, as a man treads down a 
file of ants ; and again, all his impulses urged him to 
prayer, and from the depths of his oppressed heart the 
imploring cry went up into the night — 

“ Eloi ! Eloi ! great God on high ! Thou knowest, for 
I have told Thee, and Thine all-seeing eye must behold, in 
spite of the backness of the night, how sorely Thy people 
are beset whom Thou hast promised to lead into a new 
land. Remember Thy word, O Jehovah ! Be gracious 
unto us, God Almighty ! Our foe is upon us with irresist- 
ible might ! Stay his steps ! Save us ! Deliver the 
women and the children ! Save us, and be merciful unto 
us!” 

As he prayed, he had fixed his eyes on high and had 
espied the ruddy blaze of a fire on Baal-Zephon. This 
had been lighted by the Phoenicians to propitiate the Baal 
of the north wind in favor of the kindred race of Hebrews, 
and against the hated Egyptian nation. 

This was friendly ; but he put his trust in another God, 
and as he glanced again at the vault of heaven, over which 
the black rack raced and gathered and divided again, and 
swept to and fro, he descried, between two parting clouds, 
the silver beam of the full moon already at its meridian. 
And fresh terrors came upon him, for he remembered the 
predictions of the weather-wise seamen. If the flood 
should at this moment return to its bed, his people were 
doomed ; for, to the north of the gulf, where deep pools 
lay amid rocks and slimy mud, there was no escape. If 


JOSHUA. 


185 


within an hour the waters should rise, the seed of Abra- 
ham would cease from the face of the earth, as writing on 
a wax tablet vanishes at the pressure of a warm hand. 

But was not this people, doomed to destruction, the 
same which the Lord had called to be His own ? And 
could He give them into the hand of the enemy which was 
His enemy also ? 

No, a thousand times no ! 

And the moon, which was to cause the disaster, had but 
a short time since aided his flight and been his friend. He 
could only hope and believe, and cling to his trust in 
God. 

And as yet nothing was lost, not a single soul. If it 
came to the worst, the whole nation might not be de- 
stroyed ; his own tribe, which led the way, least of all. By 
this time many must have reached the further shore ; more, 
perhaps, than he thought ; for the little bay was narrow, 
and even the lepers, the last of the multitude, had already 
gone some distance over the moist sand. 

He lingered behind every one to listen for the coming 
of the enemy’s chariots. On the shore of the gulf he laid 
his ear to the ground ; and he could trust the sharpness 
of his hearing, for in this attitude he had often detected 
the distant tramp of beasts that had gone astray, or, when 
out hunting, had heard the approach of a herd of antelopes 
or gazelles. 

He, being the last, was in the greatest danger, but what 
matter for that ? How gladly would he have given his 
young life to save the rest ! 

Since he had carried a chiefs staff he felt that he had 
taken upon himself the duty of watching over his people ; 
so he listened and listened, till at last he perceived a 
scarce audible thrill in the earth and then a faint rumbling. 
This was the foe ; this must be Pharaoh’s chariots ; and 
how swiftly were the proud steeds rushing on ! 

He started to his feet as though a whip had stung him, 
and flew onward to overtake the rest. 

How oppressively sultry the air had become, in spite of 
the raging gale which had extinguished so many of the 
torches ! The clouds hid the moon, but the dancing fire 
on the highest peak of Baal-Zephon shone broader and 
brighter. The sparks which it cast up flew scurrying to 
westward, for the wind was veering to the east. No 


1 86 


JOSHUA . 


sooner did he perceive this than he hastened back to the 
youths who carried the censers behind the procession, and 
commanded them, in breathless haste, to refill the copper 
vessels, and take care that the vapor rose thick ; for he 
said to himself, that the wind would blow it into the faces 
of the horses and make them refractory, or stop them. 

No means seemed to him too humble, every moment 
gained was precious, and as soon as he had seen the smoke 
from the cehsers was spreading in choking clouds over the 
track left by the advancing multitude he ran on again, 
warning the elders, as he came up with them, that Pha- 
raoh’s chariots were not far behind, and that the people 
must hasten their march. Forthwith the hosts on foot, 
the bearers, leaders and herdsmen, collected their strength 
to proceed faster ; and although the wind was every 
moment more decidedly against them, hindering their pro- 
gress, they battled with it valiantly, and the fear of their 
pursuers doubled their energies. 

The lad was like a sheep-dog watching and driving the 
flock, and the chiefs of the tribes looked kindly on him 
wherever he was to be seen ; and as he made his way 
among the marching host, fighting onwards against the 
blast, the east wind brought a strange cry to his ears as 
the reward of his efforts. The nearer he came to it the 
louder it rose, and the more sure he was that it was a 
shout of triumph and gladness, the first that had been 
raised by Hebrew voices for many a long day. It revived 
the youth like a cool draught after long thirst, and he 
could not refrain from shouting aloud, and hailing those 
behind with a cry of “ Saved, saved ! ” 

Several of the tribes had already reached the eastern 
shore of the gulf, and it was they who sent the shout of 
joy which, witn the beacon fires they lighted along the 
shore, gave the rear of the host fresh courage, and renewed 
their flagging strength. By the light of the blaze he saw 
the majestic figure of Moses on a hillock by the shore, 
stretching out his staff towards the waters ; and this image 
was stamped on his mind, as on that of every soul present, 
great and small, more deeply than any other, and inflamed 
the confidence in his heart. This man was verily the 
friend of God, and so long as he should hold up his staff 
the waves were spell-bound, and the Lord, by His servant, 
forbade them to return ! 


JOSHUA. 


187 


Ephraim need no more appeal to the Most High ; this 
was in the hands of His great and sublime servant. But 
his own lesser duty of urging on one and another to the 
goal he still must fulfill. 

Back he flew to the lepers and the incense-bearers, and 
to each division he shouted aloud : “ Saved, saved ! Hasten 
forward ! The rod of Moses holds the waters back ! Many 
have reached the shore ! Praise the Lord ! Forward, 
forward, and you too may join the song ! Fix your eyes 
on those two red fires ! They were kindled by those who 
are delivered; between them stands the servant of the 
Lord uplifting his staff.” 

Then he again laid his ear to the ground, kneeling on 
the wet sand, and he heard quite near the rattle of wheels 
and the heavy tramp of horses. But even while he listened 
the sound gradually ceased, and he heard nothing but the 
howling of the storm and the ominous beating of the wild 
waves, or a cry now and then borne down on the east 
wind. 

The chariots had reached the shore of the dry bed of 
the gulf, and paused some little while, hesitating before 
they started on so perilous a passage ; then suddenly the 
Egyptian war cry rang out, and again he heard the rolling 
wheels. It came on, more slowly than before, but yet 
faster than the Israelites could march. 

For the Egyptians, too, the way lay open ; but, though his 
people had but a small start, he need no longer fear for them ; 
all was not lost ; those who had reached the shore could 
scatter themselves during the night among the mountain 
solitudes, and ensconce themselves in spots where no 
chariot nor horse could pursue them. Moses knew the 
land in which he had long dwelt as a fugitive ; the only 
thing now was to warn him of the approach of the foe. So 
he charged a comrade of the tribe of Benjamin with the 
message, and the distance was no longer very great, while 
he himself still staid behind to watch the coming of the 
host. Without stooping to listen, and in spite of the gale 
which blew the sound from him, he could already hear the 
clatter of the chariots and neighing of the horses. The 
lepers, however, who likewise heard the noise, bewailed 
and wept, fancying themselves already trodden under foot, 
or swallowed by the cold dark waters ; for the way was 
f ~st shrinking, and the sea was greedy to recover the 


1 88 


JOSHUA . 


ground it had abandoned. Man and beast were forced to 
march in a narrow file, and while the hurrying troops 
packed closer and closer they also stretched longer, and 
precious moments were lost. Those who walked on the 
right-hand side were wading through the encroaching 
waves, in haste and terror, for already behind them they 
could hear in the distance the Egyptian words of command. 

But the enemy was evidently delayed, and Ephraim 
easily understood what caused their diminished speed. 
The ground grew softer at every step, and the narrow 
wheels of the war chariots must sink deep in it, even to 
the axles. 

Under cover of the darkness he crept back as near as 
he dared to the pursuing host, and he could hear now an 
oath and now an angry order to use the lash more freely ; 
and at last one driver saying to his neighbor : 

“ What cursed folly ! If they had suffered us to set out 
before noon instead of waiting till the omens had been 
read and Amon solemnly installed in the place of Baie, it 
would have been an easy matter enough, and we should 
have trapped them like a covey of quails. The high priest 
has shown his valor on the field before this, and now he 
gives up the leadership because a dying woman had touched 
his heart ! ” 

“ Siptah’s mother ! ” another put in. “ Still, you are 
right ; twenty princesses ought not to have turned him 
from his duty to us. If he had staid by us we should not 
have had to flay our jades alive, and at an hour, too, when 
any prudent captain leaves his men to rest by the camp- 
fires over their supper and their game of draughts. Go to 
the horse’s heads, man ! we are stuck in the sand again ! ” 

Thereupon a loud outcry arose behind the foremost 
chariot, and Ephraim could hear another voice exclaiming : 
“ Get on there, if the horses die for it ! ” 

“ If retreat were possible,” said the chief captain of the 
war chariots, a relative of Pharaoh’s, “ even now I would 
turn about. But as it is we should all tumble over each 
other. So forward, cost what it may ! We are close on 
their heels. Halt ! Halt ! Curses on that pungent smoke ! 
Ah ! wait, only wait, you dogs ! As soon as the road opens 
out a little we will get round you, and may the gods shorten 
my life by a day for every soul I leave alive ! Another 
torch out ! I cannot see my hand before my face, A 


JOSHUA . 189 

beggar’s stick would be more to the purpose than a com- 
mander’s staff.” 

“ And a gallows’ rope about our necks instead of a gold 
chain,” cried another. “ If only the moon would come 
out ! It was because the horoscope promised that it would 
shine full from evening till dawn that I voted for the late 
march, turning night into day. If only it were not so 
dark I ” 

But the sentence remained unfinished, for a blast, 
rushing down from the south-eastern gorges of Baal-Zephon 
like a roaring beast of prey, swept over the speakers, and 
a leaping wave wetted Ephraim through and through. He 
shook back his hair and dried his eyes as he recovered his 
breath ; but behind a loud cry of terror went up from the 
Egyptians, for the surge that had but drenched him had 
swept the foremost chariot into the sea. At this the lad 
began to be alarmed for his people, and he flew forward ; 
but as he started a flash of lightning showed him the gulf, 
the mountain, and the shore. The thunder did not 
immediately follow, but the storm now came nearer ; the 
lightnings, instead of cutting zigzag across the sky, flared 
in broad sheets through the darkness, and before they died 
out the deafening crack of the thunder echoed among the 
bare crags of the mountain-cliffs, and rolled in deep, angry 
waves of sound to the shore and the head of the bay. Sea 
and land, man and beast, all was flooded with the dazzling 
glare each time the destroying clouds discharged their 
bolts ; the surging waves and the air above them gleamed 
in sulphurous yellow, through which the lightning blazed as 
through an olive-tinted glass wall. Now, too, Ephraim 
thought he discerned that the heaviest clouds were coming 
up from the south and not from the north ; and presently, 
by the lightning’s gleam, he saw that behind him, here a 
refractory team were plunging into the waves, there one 
chariot was overturning another, and beyond these again 
several were locked together to the destruction of the 
drivers and men at arms, while they checked the progress 
of those which followed. 

Still, on the whole, the enemy was advancing, and the 
space dividing the fugitives from the pursuers grew no 
wider. However, the confusion which prevailed among 
the Egyptians was by this time so great that the cries of 
terror of the fighting men and the encouraging shouts of 


190 


JOSHUA. 


the drivers waxed louder and louder, in the intervals 
between the maddening roar of the thunder. But, black 
as were the storm clouds to the south, fiercely as the wind 
raged, the darkened heavens shed no water, and, though 
the pilgrims were wet, it was not with rain, but with the 
sparkling waves which darted higher and higher every 
moment, washing up further and further over the dry sand 
in the bay. The path was narrowing, the passing of the 
multitude was at an end. The blaze of the beacons still 
guided the frightened rear to the hoped-for goal, remind- 
ing them that there stood Moses with the staff lent him by 
God. Every step brought them nearer. 

Presently a shout of triumph proclaimed that the tribe 
of Benjamin had reached the shore, though they waded 
through the foaming fringe of waters for some little dis- 
tance. It had cost them unheard-of efforts to save the 
cattle from the rising tide, to drag on the loaded carts, and 
keep the flocks together ; but now they all stood in safety 
in dry land. Only the strangers and lepers remained to 
be rescued. The lepers, indeed, had not flocks nor herds, 
but the strangers had many, and the storm so terrified the 
people, as well as the cattle, that they dared not plunge 
into the water, which was now ankle deep. Ephraim, how- 
ever, reached the land, and called to the herdsmen from 
the shore to follow where he had passed, and under his 
guidance they drove the herds forward. This was success- 
ful ; the last man, and the last head of cattle, reached the 
land of safety under the raging storm, and amid loud 
shouts of joy. The lepers were forced to wade through 
waves up to their knees and even to their girdles, and before 
they had landed the gates of heaven were opened and the 
rain fell in torrents. But they, too, were safe, and though 
many a mother, who had been carrying her little one in her 
arms or on her shoulder, fell on her knees on the shore; 
though many a hapless wretch who had been helping his 
sturdier fellow-sufferers to drag a cart through the yielding 
sands, or wade through the surf with a litter on his back, 
felt his head throb with fever ; still, they, too, had escaped 
destruction. 

They were to await further orders beyond a grove of 
palms which stood on some rising ground about a group 
of wells not far from the shore. The tribes had gone 
further inland, to proceed on their way at a given signal ; 


JOSHUA. 


191 

this was to take them m a south-easterly direction into the 
mountain, where inhospitable rocks prohibited any pursuit 
by a regular army or war chariots. 

Hur had gathered his men about him, and they stood 
armed with spears, slings, and short swords, ready to fall 
on the foe who might venture to set foot on land. Men 
and horses should be cut down and the chariots piled into 
a high barrier, so as to erect a difficult obstacle in the way 
of their pursuers. The beacons on the shore were so 
diligently fed and screened, that neither the rain nor the 
blast would extinguish them. They were to light the 
herdsmen who were prepared to attack the chariots, and 
old Nun, Hur and Ephraim stood at their head. But it 
was in vain that they waited for the pursuers, and when 
the youth was the first to see, by the glare of the beacon- 
fires, that the way by which the fugitives had come was 
now one with the broad level of the sea, and that the smoke 
was driving to the north instead of the south-west — it was 
about the hour of the first morning watch — a shout of 
triumph burst from breasts overflowing with thankfulness 
and joy : “ Look at the flames ! The wind has changed ; 
the sea is being carried northwards ! The waters have 
swallowed up Pharaoh’s host !” 

At this there was silence for a while in the multitude, 
and then, suddenly, Nun’s loud voice was heard : “ He is 
right, my children ! Vain is the strength of man ! O Lord 
God 1 How terrible and fearful are Thy judgments on 
Thy foes ! ” 

Here he was interrupted by a loud outcry. But by the 
wells, where Moses, greatly exhausted, was leaning 
against a palm-tree with Aaron and many others about 
him, the fact which Ephraim had first discerned was now 
observed by the rest; the glad and terrible tidings, 
incredible but true, flew from mouth to mouth, and each 
minute confirmed their certainty. Every eye glanced sky- 
wards ; the black clouds were steadily sailing away to the 
northward. The rain was ceasing ; instead of the angry 
flashes and roar of thunder, a few pale gleams lighted up the 
isthmus and the northern lakes, and to the south the sky 
was clearing. At last the low moon looked out between 
the banks of cloud ; its peaceful ray silvered the tall flanks 
of Baal-Zephon and the shores of the gulf, now bathed once 
more in dashing waves. The roaring and shrieking blast 


192 


JOSHUA . 


sank to a murmuring breeze from the south, and the waters, 
which had been as a raging monster, besieging the rocks, 
now lay quivering with broken strength at the stony base 
of the mountain. 

The sea spread a shroud, dark for a time, over those 
hundreds of corpses ; but the pale moon, ere it set, took 
care that the watery grave of a king and so many great 
personages should not lack a splendid pall. His radiance 
poured down on the waves that hid them, decking them 
with a glorious embroidery of diamonds in silver setting. 
Whilst the east grew bright and the sky was red with 
dawn the tents were pitched ; yet there was little time for 
a hasty morsel. Shortly after sunrise the chief called the 
wandering people together, and as soon as they had 
assembled at the springs Miriam swung the tambourine, 
shook the circle of bells, and struck the calf-skin till they 
sounded far and wide, and as she paced forth with a light 
step, the women and maidens followed her, keeping rhyth- 
mical time with the dance ; and she sang : 

“ I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed glori- 
ously ; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the 
sea. 

“ The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become 
my salvation : he is my God, and I will prepare him an 
habitation ; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 

“ Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the 
sea : his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. 

“ The depths have covered them : they sank into the bot- 
tom as a stone. 

“ Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power : 
thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. 

“ And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast over- 
thrown them that rose up against thee : thou sentest forth 
thy wrath which consumed them as stubble. 

“ And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gath- 
ered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the 
depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. 

“ The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will 
divide the spoil ; my lust shall be satisfied upon them ; 
I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. 

“ Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them ; 
they sank as lead in the mighty waters. 

“ Who is like unto thee, 0 Lord, among the gods ? 


JOSHUA. 193 

“ Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, 
doing wonders ? 

“ Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou 
hast redeemed : thou hast guided them in thy strength 
unto thy holy habitation.” 

Men and women alike joined in when she repeated the 
cry : “ I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed 
gloriously ; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into 
the sea.” 

This song and this solemn hour were never forgotten by 
the Israelites ; and each one was full of his God, and of 
glad, thankful hope for happier days. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

The song of praise had died away and the storm had 
long since ceased ; yet the morning sky, which had been 
red at dawn, was again covered with grey clouds, and a 
strong wind still blew from the south-west disturbing the 
lake, and shaking and rocking the crowns of palms which 
stood by the wells. 

The rescued people had extolled the Most High, and even 
the coldest and most perverse had joined in Miriam’s 
hymn of praise, but, as the procession of dancers approached 
the sea, many would have gladly left the ranks and have 
hastened to the strand where many things attracted them. 
Plundreds had now betaken themselves to the shore, where 
the waves like generous robbers disgorged and washed up 
on to the sand that which they had engulfed during the 
night. 

Nor did the women even allow the wind to hinder them, 
for covetousness and revenge, the most powerful instincts 
in the human breast, drew them to the shore. 

Some new object appeared every moment to excite their 
greed ; for here lay the corpse of a warrior, and there his 
overthrown chariot in the sand. From this, if it had been 
the possession of a great man, they tore the silver or golden 
ornaments : from the owner they took his short sword or 
battle-axe out of his girdle, and men and women of the 
common class, slaves and slave women of the Hebrews, 
and the strangers, robbed the bodies of their clasps and 

*3 


194 


JOSHUA. 


bracelets, which were of precious metal, or tore the rings 
from the swollen fingers of the drowned. 

The ravens which had followed the wanderers, and which 
had disappeared during the storm, now returned, and were 
striving, screeching against the wind, at least to maintain a 
place on the booty, the scent of which had attracted them. 

But far greedier than they, were the dregs of the wan- 
dering host, and when the sea threw a costly article on 
shore a wild cry was raised, and hard blows exchanged. 
The leaders themselves kept back, for they considered 
that the Hebrews had a right to the spoil ; and if one of 
them tried to prevent gross covetousness the people re- 
fused to obey him. 

What the Egyptians had so lately brought upon them 
was so dreadful that it never entered the minds of the best 
of them to restrain their thirst for revenge. Moreover, grey- 
bearded men of high position, and women and mothers, 
whose appearance bespoke a kindly disposition, drove 
back the few unfortunates who had succeeded in reaching 
the strand on the wreckage of the war-chariots and bag- 
gage-wagons. With shepherds’ crooks and travelers’ 
staves, knives and axes, or by throwing stones and spiteful 
words, they forced them to release their hold on the float- 
ing wood ; and the few who were still on land were driven 
by the furious mob back into the sea which had spared 
them in vain. 

Their wrath was so great, and revenge such a sacred 
duty, that none dreamed of the respect, compassion and 
consideration due to misfortune ; not a word that Could 
hint of magnanimity or pity, or even of the profit that 
might be gained by saving the rescued to be slaves, or as 
prisoners of war to be ransomed. 

“ Death to the arch-enemy ! ” — “ Destruction fall on 
them ! ” — “ Away with them ! ” — “ Give them as food to 
the fishes ! ” — “ You drove us and our children into the 
sea, away with you into the salt waves ! ” 

These were the cries that were raised on every side and 
which no one checked, not even Miriam and Ephraim, 
who likewise had gone down to the shore to witness the 
tragedy that was being enacted there. 

Though the maiden was now the wife of Hur, her de- 
meanor and character had been very little altered by her 
marriage. The fate of the people and her relations with 


JOSHUA. 


195 


her God, whose prophetess she felt she was, were still her 
highest thought ; and now that all she had hoped and 
prayed for was being fulfilled, now that she had given 
expression to the feelings of the faithful in song, march' 
ing in front of the thankful multitude, she considered she 
attained the summit of her existence. 

Ephraim first had reminded her of Joshua, and while 
she spoke with him of the prisoner she walked proudly 
along like a queen, and answering the greetings of the 
people with majestic dignity. Her eyes sparkled with 
happiness, and her face wore only for a few minutes an 
expression of pity when the youth told her of the hard- 
ships he had endured with his uncle. Of course she still 
remembered the man she had loved, but he was no longer 
essential to the high aim of her life. 

Ephraim had just mentioned the lovely Egyptian woman 
who loved his uncle, and at whose petition the chains had 
been taken off the prisoners, when a loud cry was raised 
on a part of the shore where a great crowd had collected. 

Howls of rage and cries of joy went up together, obviously 
caused by the fact that the sea had thrown up something 
particularly valuable on land. Curiosity attracted them 
both to the spot ; and as Miriam’s proud dignity caused 
the people to stand aside, she soon caught sight of the body 
of a traveling chariot which had lost its wheels, and of its 
pitiable contents. The linen canopy which had screened 
it was torn away, and lying on its floor were two elderly 
Egyptian women ; a third, much younger, lay against the 
back seat of this singular vehicle, which had thus become a 
boat. The first two lay dead in the water that covered 
the bottom of the carriage, and several Hebrew women 
were in the act of tearing off the costly ornaments from 
the throat and arms of one of them. The younger woman 
had escaped death by a wonderful chance, and now she 
was offering her very precious jewels to the Hebrew 
women. At the same time, with pale, quivering lips and 
slender, half-benumbed hands, she was promising the 
robbers, in a soft, harmonious voice, to give them all she 
had, and a handsome reward in money as well, if they 
would spare her life. She was still so young, and she had 
been kind, very kind, to a Hebrew. If they would but 
hear her. This petition sounded affecting, though it was 
interrupted so frequently with curses and groans that little 


196 


JOSHUA. 


of it was audible. Just as Miriam and Ephraim reached 
the shore she screamed aloud, for a brutal woman tore the 
gold snake from her ear. The Egyptian girl’s cry of 
anguish struck the youth like a sword thrust, and the 
color left his face as he recognized Kasana’s voice. 

The corpses by her were those of her nurse and of 
Baie’s wife. 

Ephraim, almost beside himself, thrust aside the men 
who separated him from the victim on one side and 
hastened towards the remains of the chariot ; sprang into 
the sand bank at the foot of which the vehicle was 
stranded, and cried, with burning cheeks and impetuous 
passion : 

“ Back ! Woe to those who touch her ! ” 

But a Hebrew woman, the wife of a brickmaker, whose 
child had died in frightful convulsions on the journey 
through the sea, had already snatched the dagger from 
Kasana’s girdle and had stabbed her in the back, with 
the cry : “ That’s for my little Ruth ! Wretch ! ” 

She raised the bloody poignard for a second blow ; but 
before she could strike her enemy again, Ephraim rushed 
between them and wrenched away the knife. Then, stand- 
ing in front of the hapless creature, he shouted in loud 
menace : “ Murderers and thieves ! If one of you dares 
to touch her, his blood shall mingle with that of this 
woman ! ” With these words he fell on his knees by the side 
of the bleeding victim, and, finding that she had lost con- 
sciousness, he lifted her in his arms, and carried her to 
Miriam. 

The startled plunderers for a few minutes suffered him 
to do as he w«uld, but before he had gained his end, a cry 
was raised of : “ Vengeance, vengeance ! We found the 
woman, and the body is ours alone.” “How dare the 
haughty Ephraimite call us robbers and murderers ? ” 
“ When there is a chance of shedding Egyptian blood, it 
shall flow ! ” The Lord our God spares not, nor do we ! ” 
“ Seize him ! ” “ Seize the girl ! ” 

But the lad paid no heed to this outbreak of rage till Ka- 
sana’s head was resting on Miriam’s bosom, where she was 
sitting on a sandhill near at hand, and then, as the angry 
crowd rushed upon him, the women outstripping the men, he 
once more flourished his dagger, crying : “ Back ! Hold off ! 
I tell you once more. If there are any men here of 


JOSHUA . 


19 7 


Ephraim or Judah, let them come to my side, or to Miri- 
am’s, the wife of their chief ! Well done, my brethren, and 
woe to him who lays a hand on me ! Vengeance, do you 
say? Are you not avenged by that hyaena which has 
murdered this poor defenceless creature ? Your victim’s 
jewels ? Well, well ; they are yours, and I will give you 
my own into the bargain, so long as you leave the wife of 
Hur free to care for the dying woman ! ” 

He bent over Kasana, took from her person all she had 
about her of pins or rings, and placed them in the greedy 
hands stretched out to receive them. Then he took the 
broad gold band from his own arm, held it up, and cried : 
“ This is the promised ransom. Go back quietly and leave 
this woman to Miriam, and you shall have it to share 
among you. If you insist on blood, come on — but then, 
I keep the bracelet ! ” 

These words did not fail in their effect. The angry 
women looked first at the heavy, broad gold band, and 
then at the splendid youth, and the men of Judah and 
Ephraim who had rallied round him ; and then gazed 
inquiringly at each other. At last the wife of a foreign 
trader cried out : “ Give us the gold, and we will leave 
the wounded darling to the chiefs son ! ” 

The rest agreed to this decision, although the furious 
brickmaker’s wife, who meant to have done a deed pleas- 
ing in the eyes of her god by avenging her child, and had, 
in consequence, been accused as a murderess, still threat- 
ened Ephraim with frenzied gestures till she was dragged 
away to th® shore by the crowd who hoped to find fresh 
booty there. 

Through all the tumult Miriam, without a qualm of fear, 
had examined and bound up Kasana’s wounds with a skill- 
ful hand. The dagger, a gift in jest from Prince Siptah, 
that his fair one might not go forth to battle unarmed, 
had inflicted a deep stab under one shoulder, and she had 
lost so much blood that the feeble flicker of life seemed to 
die out at every breath. But she still lived, and she was 
carried into Nun’s tent, as being the nearest at hand. 

The old chief had just been giving out weapons to the 
herdsmen and youths gathered together by his grandson 
to go forth to liberate his beloved son, and had promised 
himself to join the expedition, when the melancholy party 
reached the tent. If Kasana had admired the noble 


198 


JOSHUA . 


old man, so had Hur felt very kindly towards Hornecht’s 
lovely daughter in the by-gone years at Tanis. They had 
never met without she giving him some pretty greeting, 
and he would reply to her : “ The Lord bless thee, child 1 ” 
or, “ A happy day for an old man when he meets so sweet 
a maid ! ” Many years ago, while she still wore the curls 
of a very young girl, he had even given her a lamb with 
especially silky, snow-white wool, after he had concluded 
a bargain with her father, exchanging some corn from 
Hornecht’s land for steers of his own famous breed. And 
all his son had ever told him of Kasana had tended to en- 
hance his regard for her. She seemed in his eyes the most 
lovable of all the maidens of Tanis, and if she had been the 
child of Hebrew parents it would have rejoiced him to see 
her married to his son. 

To find his favorite again in so pitiable a plight was so 
great a grief to the old man that the tears ran down on his 
snowy beard, and his voice shook when he saw the blood- 
stained bandage about her shoulder. When she was laid 
on his couch, and Nun had placed his medicine chest at 
the prophetess’ service, Miriam desired the men to leave 
her alone with the sufferer ; and when she called them back 
into the tent, she had revived Kasana with some drug and 
bound her wound with greater care. With her hair 
smoothly arranged and the blood all washed away, she lay 
between fresh linen sheets like a sleeping child, hardly 
looking as if she had attained woman’s estate. And she 
still breathed, though the blood had not returned to her 
lips or cheeks, and it was not till she had again swallowed 
the mixture which Miriam had prepared for her that she 
opened her eyes. 

At the foot of the bed stood the old man and his grand- 
son, and each would fain have asked the other how it came 
to pass that he could not refrain his tears as he looked into 
the face of this stranger. 

The conviction which Ephraim had so unexpectedly 
gained, that Kasana was base and false-hearted, had revolted 
him, and frightened him back into the right way which he 
had left. Nevertheless, he had kept all he had overheard 
in the tent locked in his own heart, and when he had told 
his grandfather and Miriam that Kasana had interceded 
kindly for the prisoners, and both had desired to learn 
more from him, he had felt as a father might who had 


JOSHUA . 


199 


witnessed the crime of a beloved son, and not a word of 
the horrors he had heard passed his lips. Now, he was 
glad he had kept silence ; for in spite of all he had seen 
and heard, this pure and lovely creature was surely incap- 
able of anything dishonorable. 

Old Nun had never ceased to think of her as the sweet 
child he had known so well, the apple of his eye and 
joy of his heart. He looked down on the quivering fea- 
tures with tender pity, and when at length she opened her 
eyes, he smiled at her with fatherly affection. The light 
in her eyes showed that she, too, at once recognized him 
and Ephraim, but when she tried to nod her head to them 
she was too weak. Still, her expressive face confessed 
her surprise and pleasure ; and when Miriam, for the 
third time, offered her the draught, and moistened her 
brow with some strong essence, she looked from one to 
another with her large eyes, and seeing their curious gaze 
she was able to say in a low voice : “ These wounds ache 

so, and death Shall I die ? ” They glanced inquiringly 

at each other, and the men would very gladly have con- 
cealed the dreadful truth, but she went on : “ Oh, let me 
know ; tell me the truth, I pray you ! ” 

And Miriam, who was kneeling on the ground by her 
side, found courage to reply : “ Yes, poor, young thing, 
the wound is deep • but all my art may do to save you 
shall be done, to preserve your life as long as possible.” 

The words were spoken kindly and compassionately, and 
yet the prophetess’ deen voice seemed to jar on Kasana’s 
ear ; her lips curled piuiully while Miriam spoke, and 
when she ceased ihe sufferer closed her eyes and large 
tears flowed down her cheeks. 

Deep and anxious silence reigned till she opened her 
eyes once more, and fixing them sadly on Miriam’s face 
asked, as if in amazement at something strange, “ You, a 
woman, are learned in the leech’s art ? ” 

To which Miriam replied : “ My God hath bidden me to 
care for the sufferers among my people.” 

At this the dying woman’s eyes sparkled uneasily, and 
she exclaimed in a stronger voice, indeed with a vigor 
which surprised her hearers: “You are Miriam, the 
woman who sent for Joshua to go to her;” and when 
Miriam replied unhesitatingly and simply : “ As you say,” 
Kasana went on : “ And you are, indeed, of great and 


200 


JOSHUA . 


majestic beauty, and must be capable of great things ! 
He obeyed your call, and you — you could nevertheless 
marry another?” 

And again the prophetess answered, but in a gloomier 
tone : “ As you say.” 

Then the dying woman closed her eyes again, and a 
strange covert smile parted her lips. 

But this was not for long ; she became uneasy and rest- 
less. The fingers of her little hands, her lips, even her 
eyebrows, were never still, and her smooth narrow brow 
was furrowed as though she had something weighing on 
her brain. At length the trouble which disturbed her 
peace found utterance, aud she said in quavering accents s 

“ You are Ephraim, whom he loved as a son, and you 
are Nun, the old man his father. There you stand, and 

you will live, while I Oh, and it is so hard to leave the 

light of day. Anubis will lead me before the judgment 

seat of Osiris, my heart will be weighed, and then- ” 

She shuddered violently, opening and closing her trem- 
bling hands ; but she soon recovered herself, and began to 
speak once more. But Miriam positively forbade her as 
it must hasten the end. 

At this Kasana collected all her strength and exclaimed 
quickly, and as loudly as she could, glancing at Miriam 
from top to toe : “ So you would hinder me from doing 
what I must do? You ! ” There was an accent of con- 
tempt in her tone ; but she no doubt felt that she must 
husband her strength, for she went on more calmly, and 
as if speaking to herself : “ But I cannot depart thus — 
not thus ! How it happened — why I did it all — I must 
confess ; and I will not complain if only he may know 
how it came to pass. Oh, Nun, good old Nun, who gave 
me a lamb when I was yet but a child — I loved it so — 
and you, Ephraim, my boy, I will tell you everything.” 

A painful cough here checked her utterance ; as soon 
as she had recovered her breath she turned to Miriam 
again and went on, in a voice so full of bitter aversion 
that it startled those who knew her kindly nature : “ It is 
you — you, tall woman with a man’s voice, and the learning 
of a leech — you who beguiled him from Tanis, and from 
me. He went and came and did your bidding. And you 
—you became another man’s wife— it must have been 
after his coming ; yes— for when Ephraim brought your 


JOSHUA . 


201 


message he spoke of you as a maiden. Whether it was a 
grief to Joshua I know not. But another thing I know, 
and that is that I have somewhat to confess before it is too 
late. And none may hear it but those who love him, and 
I — do you hear ? — I love him more than all else on earth ! 
You ! you have a husband, and a God whose bidding 
you zealously obey — as you yourself have said. What is 
Joshua to you? I beg you to leave us. Very few have I 
met in my life to whom I could not feel kindly, but you I 
— I cannot love, I know not why, — and if you remain near 
me I cannot speak — and I must — and it hurts me so to 
speak ! But before you go — you are a physician — tell me 
one thing : I have so many things to say to him before I 
die — will it kill me if I speak ? ” 

And again the prophetess found no reply but her brief, 
“ As you say,” and her tone was one of stern warning. 

Hesitating between the duty she owed to the sufferer as 
her physician, and her desire not to contravene the wishes 
of a dying creature, she glanced at old Nun, and reading 
in his face a command to yield to Ka Sana’s wish she bent 
her head and quitted the tent. But as she stood outside 
the poor soul’s bitter words come home to her, and spoilt 
the day that had begun so gloriously, aye, and many an 
hour after ; and to the last she could never explain to her- 
self how it was that in the presence of that hapless, dying 
woman a feeling had possessed her that she was the 
smaller,, the inferior creature. 

As soon as Kasana found herself alone with the grand- 
father and grandson, and Ephraim had fallen on his knees 
by the bedside, while the old man, after kissing her brow, 
stood with his hoary head bent to hear her low tones, she 
began again : 

“ Now I am easier. That tall woman — her knit black 
brows — her eyes as dark as night — they are fiery indeed, 
and yet so cold . . . that woman . . . Did Joshua love her, 
father ? Tell me. I do not ask out of idle curiosity.” 

“ He honored her,” replied the old man in some trouble, 
“ as do all our people. She is of a lofty spirit, and our God 
vouchsafes to her to hear His voice. But you, sweet one, 
were dear to him even as a child ; that I know.” 

A slight shudder ran through her frame. For a short 
space she closed her eyes and a blissful smile lighted up 
her face. This lasted so long that Nun thought that 


202 


JOSHUA. 


death had already claimed her, and he leaned over her, 
listening to her breathing, with the draught in his hand. 
She did not seem to see him ; but when at last she looked 
up again, she put out her hand for the cup, drank from it, 
and then went on : “ I felt as though he were there before 

me — Joshua himself. He wore his warrior’s dress, as he 
did the first time he took me on his arm. I was but a 
little child, and I was afraid of him because he looked so 
grave, and my nurse had told me that he had slain many 
enemies. But I was happy when he came, and when he 
went away I was sad. And years went on, and my love 
for him grew as I grew. My young heart was so full of 
him, so full . . . Yes, even when I was compelled to 
marry another, and after I was a widow.” The last words 
were scarcely audible, and she rested a while before she 
went on : “ Joshua knows it well — only he does not know 
how anxious I was when he was in the field, and how I 
longed for him till he came home again. At last, at last, 
he returned, and how glad I was to see him once more ! 
But he himself ! That woman — Ephraim told me — that 
tall, proud woman bid him go to Pithom. Yet he came 
back from thence, and then, O Nun. That was hardest 
of all to bear — he refused my hand when my father offered 
it That — ah, how it hurt me ! I can no more — give me 
the cup again.” 

Her cheeks had colored slightly as she made this pain- 
ful confession ; and the old man, perceiving how quickly 
the efforts she was making were bringing her to the end, 
begged her to be silent. But she insisted on making use 
of what little time remained to her, and though a piercing 
pain and tormenting short cough forced her to press her 
hand to her bosom she went on : 

“ Then I hated him ; but not for long ; and I never 
loved him more than when I went after the hapless 
prisoner — you know, boy. And then came the dreadful, 
horrible time, the shameful things — but he must know it 
all that he may not despise me if he ever hears. I never 
knew my mother, and there was no one to warn me . . . 
Where shall I begin ? Prince Siptah — you know him, father 
—the bad man who will soon be lord over Egypt. My father 
is in a plot with him. Great gods ! I can speak no more ! ” 

Terror and despair were painted in her face; but 
Ephraim broke in and confessed with tearful eyes and a 


JOSHUA. 


203 


trembling voice ail he had overheard by lier tent that night, 
and she confirmed it with assenting glances. When at 
last he spoke of the high priest Baie’s wife, whose body 
had been thrown up on the strand by Kasana’s side, she 
interrupted him in a low voice, saying, “ She devised it all. 
She wanted her husband to be supreme in the land, and 
govern even Pharaoh, for Siptah is no king’s son.” 

“Aye,” said the old man, only anxious to stop her 
speaking and to help her to tell all she wished to make 
known, “ and as Baie raised him up, so can he overturn 
him. He, even more surely than his predecessor, will be 
the tool of the man who has made him king. I know 
Aarsu, the Syrian, and, if I am not deceived, the time is 
coming when he will aim at seizing the reins of power in 
Egypt, torn as it will be by internal divisions, though he 
and his mercenaries have so far helped others to snatch 
them. But you, child, what prompted you to follow the 
army and that profligate traitor ? ” 

Kasana’s eyes gleamed more brightly again, for the 
question led directly to the matter of which she desired to 
speak, and she replied as clearly as her failing strength al- 
lowed, “ It was for your son’s sake — for love of him — to 
procure his release. Only the evening before I had re- 
fused positively to go with Baie’s wife. But when I had 
seen Joshua once more by the well, and he — ah, he was 
so kind at last, and kissed my brow ! And I saw him in 
misery — alas, poor heart ! I saw the best of men doomed 
to perish in disgrace and sickness. And when he went 
onward with chains on his feet it suddenly struck me.” 

“ Then, brave, foolish, misguided child that you are, you 
determined to win the devotion of the future king in order 
to secure the release of your friend, my son ? ” 

The dying woman smiled and said softly, “ Yes, yes ; 
for that and that alone. And I loathed the prince. And 
the disgrace, the shame — horrible, horrible ! ” 

“ So it was for my son’s sake that you endured it all,” 
cried the old man interrupting her, and her hand which he 
pressed to his lips was wet with his tears, while she turned 
to Ephraim and sighed : “ And I thought of this lad, too. 
He is so young and the mines so terrible.” 

Again she shuddered. The boy covered her hand with 
kisses while she looked tenderly in his face and his grand- 
father’s, and added : “ Now all is well, and if the gods 
grant him freedom 


204 


JOSHUA. 


Here Ephraim broke in, “We are setting forth this very 
day for the mines. I and my comrades and my grand- 
father will drive his keepers to the four winds ” 

“And he shall learn from my own lips,” said Nun, 
“ how truly Kasana loved him, and his whole life will be 
too short to thank her for such a sacrifice.” 

His voice failed him. But every trace of trouble had 
vanished from the dying woman’s face, and she lay for 
some time gazing upwards in silent contentment. But 
then, by degrees, an anxious frown came on her brow, and 
she softly gasped out : “ It is well — yes, all is well — but 

yet one thing. My body, unembalmed — with no holy 
amulets ” 

And here Nun again interrupted her, saying : “ As soon 
as we have closed your eyes I will deliver it, safely 
wrapped, to the Phoenician seaman who is close at hand, 
that he may convey it to your father.” 

She tried to turn her head to thank him with a loving 
glance ; but suddenly she clutched at her throat with both 
hands, dark blood rose to her lips, a bright flame tinged 
her cheeks and faded to dead white, and after a short and 
painful struggle she sank back. Death had laid his hand 
on the loving heart, and her face wore the look of a child’s 
whose mother has forgiven it some fault, and kissed it 
before it fell asleep. 

Nun closed her eyes, weeping as he did so ; Ephraim, 
deeply moved, kissed the drooping lids ; and after a few 
moments’ silence the old man said : “I trouble myself 
very little about the life beyond the grave, of which even 
Moses knows nothing ; but one who lives as she has lived 
must always survive in the faithful memory of those whom 
she loved ; and she has done her part, it seems to me, to 
attain immortality. We will dispose of her body according 
to our promise, and then set forth to prove to him for 
whom Kasana gave all she had to give, that we love him 
no less well than the Egyptian woman.” 


JOSHUA . 


205 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

The prisoners were making their way but slowly to the 
mines. Never in all his experience had the leader of the 
gang known a worse journey through the desert, more 
luckless in every way, or so beset with mishaps and hin- 
drances. 

One of his “moles,” Ephraim, to wit, had made his 
escape ; he had lost one of his faithful hounds ; and after 
his gang had been terrified and drenched by such a storm 
as scarcely befell once in five years in all that thirsty tract, 
another overtook them on the following day — the same in 
which Pharaoh and his host had perished — even more 
violent and persistent than the first. The tempest had 
stopped their march, and after this second deluge some of 
his prisoners and men had sickened with fever from sleeping 
on the wet ground in the open air. Even the Egyptian 
asses, unaccustomed to the rain, had suffered from the 
wetting, and the best had been left to die on the way. 

At last they had been compelled to bury two of their 
comrades in the sand, and three more were so ill that they 
must be mounted on the asses that were left ; thus the 
prisoners were forced to carry the provisions with which 
the beasts had been laden. In all his twenty-five years’ 
experience such a thing had never before happened to 
their guide, and he looked forward to severe reproof at 
home. 

All this had a bad effect on the man’s temper, though he 
was commonly regarded as the most lenient of his tribe, and 
Joshua, as the accomplice of the audacious rascal whose 
escape was the beginning of all these vexations, was the 
chief victim of his wrath. Angry as he was, the leader 
of the gang might perhaps have dealt more mercifully with 
him if he had bewailed his lot like the man next behind 
him, or cursed as loudly as his companion in chains, who 
spent his breath in threats of a time coming when his 
sister-in-law would be in attendance on Pharaoh, and she 
would find some way to punish the man who had ill-treated 
her dear sister’s husband. 


20 6 


JOSHUA. 


But Joshua had made made up his mind to take all the 
rough driver and his men could do to him with as calm 
submission as the scorching sun which had tortured him 
many a time ere this during his marches across the desert, 
under arms ; and his manly spirit and strong will helped 
him to keep this resolution. When the driver loaded him 
with a monstrous burthen, he collected all the strength of 
his powerful muscles and tottered forward under it with- 
out a rebellious word till his knees gave way ; and then 
his tyrant would fly at him, snatch a few bales from off his 
shoulders, and declare he knew all the wickedness of his 
heart, and that all he hoped for was that he might have to 
be left on the way and so bring his driver into further 
trouble ; but he would not let his prisoners cheat him of 
their lives when hands were needed in the mines. 

Once the man inflicted a deep wound ; but he was 
immediately most anxiously careful that it should be 
healed; gave him wine to strengthen him, and delayed the 
caravan for half a day that he might rest. 

He had not forgotten Prince Siptah’s promise of a 
splendid reward to the man who should bring him news of 
his prisoner’s death ; but he was an honest man, and it 
was this very promise which prompted him to watch wdth 
special care over Joshua’s life ; for the consciousness of 
having neglected his duty for any personal profit would 
have spoiled his appetite for meat, drink and sleep, the 
three blessings he most prized. Hence, though the 
Hebrew had much to suffer, it was not beyond endurance ; 
and it was a real pleasure to be able to lighten the woes of 
his weaker comrades by exerting his own great strength. 

He had resigned his fate to the God who had called him 
to serve Him ; but his service, he knew, was something 
more than mere pious trust ; and day and night his mind 
was set on flight. But the fetters which linked him to his 
fellow-victim were so firmly - riveted, and so carefully 
examined and hammered night and morning, that any 
attempt to escape must only have ended in more cruel 
misery. 

The prisoners were conducted first across a hilly country 
and then towards a long range of mountains lying in front 
of them, till they reached a desert tract where weather- 
worn boulders of sandstone stood up at intervals from the 
rocky ground. 


JOSHUA . 


207 


On the fifth evening the gang stopped to rest by a lofty 
mountain which nature seemed to have piled up out of flat 
layers of stone ; and at sunrise, on the sixth morning, they 
turned off down a valley leading to the mines. 

They had overtaken no one since, on the first day, they 
had come up with a messenger from the king’s treasury. 
They had, on the other hand, met several small caravans, 
conveying malachite, turquoises and copper to Egypt, as 
well as the green glass manufactured in the neighborhood 
of the mines. 

Among a party whom they met at the opening of the 
gorge into which they diverged on this last day, were a 
married couple, on their way homeward, having been 
pardoned by the king. The driver pointed to them, to 
raise the spirits of his exhausted “ moles,” but the sight of 
them had quite an opposite effect ; for the man’s unkempt 
hair was already grey, though he was hardly past thirty, 
his tall figure bent and haggard, and his bare back striped 
with many scars and clotted blood, while his wife, who 
had shared his fate, had gone blind. She sat huddled on 
an ass in the brooding melancholy of mania ; and 
although the prison gang, as they marched past, loudly 
broke the silence of the desert, and her hearing was as 
sharp as ever, she paid no heed to them, but stared un- 
moved into vacancy. 

The sight of these haplccs wretches held up his own 
hideous fate as clearly as a mirror before Joshua’s eyes ; 
for the first time he groaned aloud, and clasped his 
hands over his face. This the driver noticed, and touched 
by the horror of a man whose powers of endurance had 
till now seemed indomitable, he cried to him : “ But they 
do not all return like this ; no indeed, not like this ! ” 

“Because they are even more utterly wretched,” he 
thought to himself, “ but that poor fellow need not know 
that. Next time I come this way I will remember to ask 
for Joshua, for I shall be curious to know what will become 
of such a bull of a man. The strongest and most deter- 
mined often are the quickest to perish. ” 

At this he flourished his whip over the heads of his gang 
as if he were driving a team of horses, without touching 
them, however. Then he pointed to a cloud of smoke 
rising from behind a wall of rock on the right hand 
and said : 


2o8 


JOSHUA . 


“ There are the smelting furnaces ! We shall be in by 
mid-day. There is no lack of fires here to cook our len- 
tils, and a bit of sheep’s flesh into the bargain ; for we are 
keeping the kind god’s birthday, the Son of Ra. Long 
may he live ! Hail and good health to him ! ” 

For half an hour longer they toiled along the dry bed of 
a torrent, with high banks on each side ; after the storm a 
roaring mountain stream had rushed down this gully to 
the lower ground, and even now a few pools were exhaling 
their moisture. When the melancholy train had made 
their way round a steep shoulder of rock, on the top of 
which stood a small Egyptian temple to Hathor and a con- 
siderable number of grave-stones, they found themselves 
close to a bend in the ravine which led to the gorge where 
the mines lay. 

Flags were waving from tall masts in front of the temple, 
in honor of Pharaoh’s birthday ; and when presently a 
noise came up from the valley, usually so silent, of shouts, 
and tumult, and clatter, the driver expressed his opinion 
that the high festival was being kept by the prisoners with 
unwonted jollity, saying so to the other guards who had 
paused to listen. 

So they moved forward without delay ; but no man held 
up his drooping head, for the noon-day sun was so relent- 
lessly cruel, and the sides of the ravine, dazzling with the 
glare, poured down such fierce heat, that it seemed as 
though they were striving to outdo the smelting furnaces. 

Though so near their journey’s end the wanderers tot- 
tered forward as if in sleep, and one alone held his breath 
with excitement. As a war horse harnessed to a plough 
arches his neck, and dilates his nostrils, while the fire 
sparkles in his eye, so had Joshua drawn up his stooping 
form in spite of the heavy sack across his shoulders, and 
his flashing gaze turned to the spot whence the uproar 
came which the driver supposed to be loud revelry. But 
he, Joshua, knew better. He could never mistake the 
sounds which he heard. It was the battle-cry of Egyptian 
troops, the trumpet call to summons them to arms, the 
clatter of weapons and shouting of hostile parties. 

Ready at once for swift action, he addressed his comrade 
in chains and whispered his commands : “ The hour of 

release is at hand. Keep your eyes open, but follow me 
blindly.” 


JOSHUA. 


209 


At this the other, too, was greatly excited, and no sooner 
had Joshua looked down the ravine than he said : “ Now. 
Be ready ! ” 

The first glance into the little gorge had revealed to him 
a figure standing on the top of a cliff, and a noble head 
framed in white hair. It was his father. He would have 
known him among ten thousand, and from a much greater 
distance. But he looked away from that beloved face for 
a moment to glance at the driver of the gang who stood 
still, startled and speechless ; and then, thinking that a 
mutiny had broken out among the state-prisoners, with 
quick presence of mind he cried in harsh accents to his 
subordinates : 

“ Get behind our prisoners and kill any one who attempts 
to escape.” But hardly had the men done his bidding and 
gone to the rear, when Joshua whispered to his companion : 
“ Now, down with him ! ” 

With these words the Hebrew, who, with his fellow cap- 
tive, was at the head of the file, rushed on the driver, and 
Joshua had seized his right arm and the other man his left, 
before he was aware of it. 

He was a stalwart fellow, and rage doubled his strength ; 
he struggled wildly to free himself, but Joshua and his 
comrade held him in a grip of iron. 

One glance had been enough to show the captive war- 
rior which way he must go to reach his own people. It 
would have to pass a small force of Egyptian bowmen who 
were shooting their arrows at the Hebrews on the opposite 
side of the ravine ; but the enemy would not dare to turn 
on them, for the sturdy form of the slave driver served to 
screen them both, and he was easily recognizable by his 
dress and weapons. “ Hold up the chain with one hand,” 
said Joshua to his accomplice. “ I can hold our living 
shield. We must get up the shoulder of the hill crab- 
fashion.” 

His companion obeyed, and when they came within 
arrow-shot length of the foe they held their prisoner first 
on one side, and then, walking backwards, between them- 
selves and the Egyptians. Thus Joshua, shouting in ring- 
ing tones: “ The son of Nun is returning to his father 
and his people ! ” made his way, step by step, towards the 
Hebrew fighting men. 

None of the Egyptians who recognized the captain of the 
14 


210 


JOSHUA . 


prison-gang had dared to let fly a shaft at the escaped 
prisoners ; and now, from the top of the slope which the 
fettered couple were climbing backwards, Joshua heard his 
name called in joyful accents, and at the same moment 
Ephraim and his company of youthful combatants came 
jlying down the hill to meet him. 

To his astonishment the warrior saw in the hands of 
every son of his people a large shield as of an Egyptian 
foot-soldier, a sword, or a battle-axe. But many still wore 
at their girdles the herdsman’s sling and bag of pebbles. 

Ephraim was their leader, and before he greeted his 
uncle, he ranged his men in two ranks like a double wall 
between Joshua and the enemy’s archers. Not till then 
did he give utterance to the joy of meeting : and another 
glad greeting followed his, for old Nun was safely led to 
the wall of rock under cover of those large Egyptian 
shields which the sea had cast on shore ; and then, under 
shelter of the cliff, strong hands filed off the fetters which 
bound Joshua and his comrade, while Ephraim, aided 
by a few others, bound the driver captive. The unfortu- 
nate officer had given up all resistance and let them do 
what they would, passively resigned. Before they tied his 
hands behind his back, he only begged to be allowed to 
wipe his eyes, for the tears were coursing each other down 
the stern man’s cheeks and on to his grey beard ; tears of 
vexation at finding himself outwitted and overpowered, 
and unable to fulfill his duty. 

The old Hebrew clasped his redeemed and only son to 
his heart with passionate affection. Then, releasing him 
from his embrace, he stepped back a few paces, and would 
never have tired of feasting his eyes on Joshua, and of 
hearing that, faithful to his God, he would henceforth 
devote himself to the service of his people. 

But it was not for long that they might allow themselves 
to revel in the joy of this happy meeting ; the battle was 
still to be won, and Nun, as a matter of course, transferred 
his command to Joshua. 

With thankful gladness, and yet not without a pang of 
regret, Joshua heard of the end which had overtaken the 
fine army among whose captains he had long been proud 
to reckon himself; and he rejoiced to learn that another 
company of armed shepherds had gone under the leader- 
ship of Hur, Miriam’s husband, to surprise the turquoise 


JOSHUA . 


21 1 


mines at Dophka, at about an hour’s march further to the 
south. If they were victorious they were to rejoin the 
young men under Ephraim before sundown. 

These ardent spirits were burning to fall upon the Egyp- 
tians once more ; Joshua, who was prudent, and who had 
reconnoitred the foe, had, indeed, no doubt that they 
would succumb to the fierce herdsmen who far out- 
numbered them. But he was anxious to avoid bloodshed 
in this fight which was being waged, for his sake, so he 
desired Ephraim to cut him a plumy leaf from the nearest 
palmtree, borrowed a shield, and went forward alone to 
speak with the enemy, waving his symbol of peace. The 
chief body of the Egyptians were guarding the entrance to 
the mines, and, recognizing the token which invited a parley, 
they desired their captain to meet Joshua. This officer 
was nothing loth to grant the Hebrew an interview, but he 
would first make himself acquainted with the contents of a 
letter which had just been delivered to him, and which 
must contain evil tidings, for that much could be gathered 
from the messenger’s demeanor, and from a few broken 
but ominous words which he had murmured to his fellow 
Egyptians. 

While some of Pharaoh’s soldiers fetched refreshment 
for the exhausted and travel-stained runner, listening with 
horror to the tidings he panted out in hoarse accents, the 
officer read the letter. 

His brow darkened, and when he had ended he clutched 
the papyrus fiercely in his hand, for it announced nothing 
less than the destruction of the army, the death of Pha- 
raoh Menephtah, and, moreover, that his eldest surviving 
son had been proclaimed and crowned as Seti the second ; 
an attempt on the part of Prince Siptah to possess 
himself of the throne having completely failed, this prince 
had fled to the marsh-lands of the Delta, and the Syrian, 
Aarsu, after deserting him and ranging himself on the side 
of the new king, had been raised to the command of the 
whole army of mercenaries. Baie, the high priest and 
supreme judge, had been deprived of his offices by Seti II., 
and banished from court. Those who had conspired with 
Siptah were condemned, not to the copper mines, but to 
the gold mines of Ethiopia. It was also reported that 
several women attached to the family of the fugitive 
usurper had been strangled, certainly his mother. Every 


212 


JOSHUA . 


fighting-man who could be spared from the mines was to 
return forthwith to Tanis, as there was need of men foi 
the newly-constituted legions. 

These tidings produced a great effect ; for, after Joshua 
had communicated to the Egyptian captain the fact that 
he, too, knew of the destruction of the Egyptian host, and 
expected fresh reinforcements in a few hours, who had, 
meanwhile, been sent to reduce Dophka, the Egyptian 
surrendered to his imperious tone, and only sought favor- 
able terms and leave to depart. He knew only too well 
how weak was the forces in charge of the turquoise mines, 
and he could look for no succor from head-quarters. 
Besides this, the person of the envoy captivated his con- 
fidence, so, after many excuses and threats, he confessed 
himself satisfied with Joshua’s permission to withdraw 
the garrison unharmed, with their beasts of burthen and pro- 
visions for the journey. This, to be sure, was not to be 
granted till they had laid down their arms and shown the 
Hebrews every entrance to the mines where prisoners 
were working. 

The young Hebrews proceeded forthwith to disarm 
the Egyptians, who were more than twice their number, 
and many a veteran’s eye was moist,. while many an one 
broke his spear or nicked his arrows, cursing and swearing 
the while ; and some of the older men who had formerly 
served under Joshua, and now recognized him, raised their 
fists and railed at him for a traitor. 

It was always the refuse of the troops which was sent on 
service in this wilderness ; most of the men were stamped 
with traces of evil living, and their faces were hard and 
cruel. On the banks of the Nile, those were carefully 
chosen who made ruthless brutality to the helpless their 
duty. 

At last the mines were opened, and J oshua himself seized 
the miner’s lamp and made his way into the sweltering 
galleries where the state prisoners, naked and loaded with 
fetters, were hewing out the copper ore. From a distance 
he could hear the swallow-tailed picks hacking at the hard 
rock. Then the miserable wailing of men and women in 
torment fell on his ear, for barbarous drivers pursued 
them into these depths and goaded the idlers to bestir 
themselves. 

This morning, as being Pharaoh’s birthday, they had all 


JOSHUA . 


213 


been driven to the temple of Hathor, up on the cliff, to 
pray for the king who had cast them into this uttermost 
wretchedness ; and they would have enjoyed a respite 
from labor till next morning if it had not been^for the un- 
expected arrival of the chief overseer which had compelled 
them to return underground. Indeed, even the women 
were all employed in digging, though, as a rule, their tasks 
consisted only in crushing and sifting the ore which was 
used in the manufacture of glass and of dye stuffs. 

When the victims heard Joshua’s footstep echoing from 
the bare rock-wall, they feared lest some new torment 
should be coming upon them, and their cries and lamen- 
tations were heard on all sides. But the deliverer had 
soon reached the first of the toilers, and the glad tidings, 
that he had come to put an end to their wretched lot, were 
soon repeated to the furthest depths of the caverns. Wild 
shouts of joy filled the galleries long used to wailing and 
tears ; but loud cries for help, gasping, groaning and a 
death-rattle also fell on Joshua’.s ear, for one hot-headed 
victim had turned on the driver of his gang and killed him 
with a blow of his pick. His example fired the vengeance 
of the others, and before they could be stopped the rest of 
the overseers had met the same fate. Not without defend- 
ing themselves, however, and many a prisoner lay dead by 
the corpse of his tormentors. 

In obedience to Joshua’s call the liberated throng at 
length made their way out to the light of day. Wild and 
harsh indeed were their shouts, mingling with the clatter 
of the chains they dragged behind them. And the most 
hard-hearted among the Hebrews, when they saw this 
troop of despairing wretches in the broad sunshine, shrank 
from the sight. Many of these hapless creatures had, in 
former times, enjoyed every earthly blessing in their own 
homes, or in the king’s palace ; had been loving fathers 
and mothers ; had rejoiced in their power for good, and 
had had their part in all the fruits which culture could 
bestow on a gifted people ; and now their weak and blood- 
shot eyes, though they glittered at first with the tears 
brought into them by the sudden change from the night of 
the caverns to the glare of the mid-day sun, presently 
flashed with a wild and greedy gleam like those of starving 
owls. 

In their first bewilderment and consternation at the 


214 


JOSHUA. 


amazing change in their fortunes they tremulously struggled 
for composure, and suffered the Hebrews, at Joshua’s 
bidding, to file off the fetters from their ankles ; but they 
soon caught sight of the disarmed soldiers and overseers, 
who were ranged under a wall of rock under the eye of 
Ephraim and his followers, and a strange impulse came 
over them. With a yell and a shriek for which there is no 
name, and which no words could describe, they tore them- 
selves away from the men who were trying to remove their 
chains, and without a word or a sign of mutual agreement, 
rushed with a common instinct, heedless of their metal 
bonds, on the helpless wretches. Before the Hebrews 
could stay them each fell on the one who had treated him 
most cruelly ; and here a famished creature gripped the foe 
who had been his master by the throat, while there a herd of 
women, stripped of all clothing and horribly disfigured by 
want and neglect, flew at the man who had most brutally 
insulted, beaten and injured them, and wreaked their long- 
repressed fury with tooth, and nail. It was as though a 
sudden flood of hatred had broken down the dam and was 
ravening unchecked for its prey. 

There was a frantic attack and defense, a fearful and 
bloody struggle on the shifting red sandy soil, an ear- 
splitting chorus of shrieks, wailing and yells ; indeed it 
was hard to distinguish anything in the revolting medley 
of men and women, which became more and more inex- 
tricably tangled as it was aggravated on one side by the 
wildest passions and a desire for revenge which was sheer 
blood-thirstiness, and on the other by the dread of death 
and strenuous instinct of self-defense. 

Only a few of the prisoners had held back, and even 
they shrieked encouragement to the rest, reviled the enemy 
with excited vehemence, and shook their fists. The rage 
with which the released victims now fell on their tormentors 
was as unmeasured as the cruelty under which they had 
suffered. 

But it was Joshua who had disarmed the tyrants ; they 
were therefore under his protection. He ordered his men 
to separate the combatants, and if possible without blood- 
shed ; this was no easy matter, and many a fresh deed of 
horror was inevitable. At last it was done, and now it 
could be seen how strangely passion had lent strength to 
the most exhausted and wretched, for, though no weapons 


JOSHUA. 


215 

had been used in the struggle, not a few corpses lay on the 
arena, and most of the guards and overseers were bleeding 
from ugly wounds. 

When peace once more reigned, Joshua demanded of the 
captain of the little garrison a list of the prisoners in the 
mines ; but he himself was wounded, and pointed to the 
clerk of the works who had not been laid hands on. He 
who had been their leech in case of need, and had always 
treated them kindly, was a man of some age who had 
known sorrow himself, and knowing what suffering means 
had always been ready to alleviate it in others. 

He very willingly read out the names of the captives, 
among whom were several Hebrews, and after each had 
answered to the call, most of them expressed themselves 
ready to go with the departing tribes. 

When at length the disarmed soldiers and guards set 
forth on their homeward way, the driver who had brought 
Joshua and his fellow-prisoners to the mines went up to 
old Nun and his son with a crestfallen air, and begged to 
be allowed to remain with them ; for no good could be in 
store for him at home, and in all Egypt there was no god 
so mighty as their God. He had not failed to observe 
that Joshua, who had himself once been the captain of 
thousands, had ever in the greatest straits uplifted his 
hands to that God, and such fortitude as the Hebrew had 
shown he had never before seen. Now, indeed, he saw and 
knew that that mighty God had overwhelmed Pharaoh and 
his host in the sea in order to save His people. Such a 
God was after his own heart, and he desired nothing better 
henceforth than to abide with those who served Him. 

Joshua gladly consented to his joining himself to them, 
and it was found that there were fifteen Hebrew prisoners, 
among them, to Ephraim’s great joy, Reuben, the husband 
of Miriam’s devoted and heart-broken ally, Milcah. His 
reserved and taciturn manner had stood him in good 
stead, and the hardships he had endured seemed to have 
had little effect on his strong frame. 

A triumphant sense of victory and the joy of success had 
come over Ephraim and his youthful army ; but when the 
sun had set, and no sign yet appeared of Hur and his 
followers, Nun began to feel some alarm. Ephraim had 
just declared his intention of sallying forth with some of his 
comrades in search of tidings, when a messenger arrived 


21 6 


JOSHUA. 


announcing that Hur’s fighting-men had lost courage on 
beholding the efficient defense of the Egyptian stronghold. 
Their leader had vainly urged them to storm it ; they had 
shrunk from the venture, and if Nun could not go to their 
support they must retire ingloriously. 

It was at once determined to succor the timorous troop. 
The Hebrews set forth in high spirits, and on their march 
through the refreshing night Ephraim and Nun related to 
Joshua how Kasana had been found and had died. All 
she had desired them to tell the man she loved they now 
made known to him, and it was with deep emotion that the 
soldier heard it all, marching on in silent thought till they 
reached Dophka, the valley of the turquoise mines, in the 
midst of which towered the fortress, surrounded by the 
huts of the captive miners. 

Hur and his men remained in ambush in an adjoining 
valley, and when Joshua had told off all the Hebrew force 
into several divisions, assigning a task to each, at day- 
break he gave the signal for the onslaught. The little 
garrison was overpowered after a short struggle, and the 
fortress seized. The Egyptians were disarmed, as those 
at the copper mines had been, and sent homewards. The 
prisoners were released, and the lepers, whose encamp- 
ment was in another valley beyond the mines — and among 
them those who had been sent hither by Joshua’s desire — 
were permitted to follow the conquerors at a fixed distance. 

Joshua had succeeded where Hur had failed, and before 
the younger men departed with Ephraim, their leader, old 
Nun called them together, and with them returned thanks to 
the Lord. Those likewise who were under Hur’s command 
joined in the thanksgiving, and when Joshua presently 
appeared Ephraim and his comrade hailed him with loud 
acclamations. 

“ Hail to our captain ! ” was shouted again and again as 
they went on their further way. “ Hail to him whom the 
Lord hath chosen to be His sword ! Him will we follow and 
obey ; through him our God shall give us the victory ! ” 

Hur’s followers also joined in the cry, nor did he forbid 
them; nay, he had thanked Joshua for storming the 
stronghold, and expressed his gladness at seeing him free 
once more. 

When they set forth, Joshua, as the younger, drew back 
to let the elder man take the lead ; but Hur had begged 


JOSHUA . 


217 


Nun, who was much older than himself, to march at the 
head of the little host, although, after the escape of the 
people on the shore of the Red Sea, he had been named the 
chief captain of the Hebrew fighting-men by Moses and the 
elders of the tribes. 

Their way led them first through a level valley. Then they 
mounted and crossed a pass over the ridge, this being the 
only road by which there was any communication between 
the mines and the Red Sea. The rocky scene was wild and 
desolate, the path steep and hard to climb. Joshua’s 
aged father, who had spent his life in the plains of Goshen 
and was unaccustomed to mountain-walking, was carried 
by his son and grandson amid much glad shouting from 
the others ; and Miriam’s husband, who led his men in the 
rear of Ephraim’s troop of comrades, as he heard their joy- 
ful cry climbed after them with a bowed head and eyes 
fixed gloomily on the ground. 

At the top they were to rest, waiting for the main body 
of the Israelites who were to be led through the desert of 
Sin towards Dophka. 

From the top of the pass the victorious troop looked out 
for the wandering tribes, but as yet nothing could be seen 
of them. But as they gazed back on the mountain path by 
which they had come, the scene was so grand and beautiful 
that it attracted every eye. At their feet lay a cauldron- 
shaped valley enclosed by high precipices, ravines, peaks 
and pinnacles, here white like chalk, there raven-black, 
grey and brown, red and green, growing as it were from 
the sandy base and pointing to the deep-blue heaven, the 
vault of dazzling light that bent over the desert unflecked 
by a cloud. 

All was barren, desolate, silent, dead. Not a blade, 
not the humblest growth clung to the sides of the many- 
colored cliffs which shut in the sandy abyss. No bird, no 
worm nor beetle even stirred in this still region hostile to 
life. The eye could nowhere see anything to suggest 
human existence, or the tilth and handiwork of man. God, 
it seemed, had created this grand scene, unfit for any 
earthly being, for Himself alone. The man who made his 
way into these wilds trod a spot which the Most High 
might have chosen for retreat and rest, like the silent and 
unapproachable inner sanctuary of the temple. 

The younger men had gazed speechless on the wondrous 


2lS 


JOSHUA . 


picture at their feet. Then they lay down on the ground, 
or did their best to be serviceable to old Nun, who loved 
the companionship of the young. He was soon reclining 
in their midst under a hastily contrived awning, and 
relating with sparkling eyes his son’s achievements as 
captain of the Egyptians. 

Joshua and Hur, meanwhile, were standing together on 
the highest pcint of the pass and gazing down into the 
desolate valley of rocks, which, surrounded by columns 
and pillars of God’s own hewing, and vaulted over by the 
blue dome of heaven, appeared to each as the most 
stupendous of temples. 

The cider kept his eyes fixed gloomily on the ground ; 
but suddenly he broke the silence, saying : “ It was at 
Succoth that I built an heap and cried upon the Lord to 
be witness between us two. But in this place, and in this 
stillness, it seems to me that we are certain of His Presence 
without sign or token.” He raised his face to Heaven and 
went on : “ And I lift up mine eyes to Thee, Adonai ; I 
send up my humble 'words to thee, O Jehovah, Thou God 
of Abraham and our fathers, that Thou mayest again be 
witness between me and this man whom Thou calledst to 
be Thy servant and the sword in Thy right hand ! ” 

He spoke the words loudly, with eyes and hands up- 
raised to Heaven. Then he turned to his companion and 
said with solemn gravity : 

“ And I ask thee, Joshua, son of Nun, dost thou 
remember the witness borne by thee anc3 me by the stone 
at Succoth? ” 

“ I do remember it,” was the answer. “And in bitter 
ill-fortune and great dangers I have learnt what the Most 
High requires of me. I am ready to devote such strength 
of soul and body as He hath vouchsafed to me to Him 
alone, and to His people, which is my people. Joshua, 
henceforth, be my name. I ask no further help, neither 
from the Egyptians nor from any other strange folk, for it 
was the Lord our God who gave me this name by the 
mouth of thy wife.” 

Hereupon Hur broke in with earnest words : 

“ This is what I looked to hear ; and inasmuch as in this 
place also the Most High is a witness between me and thee, 
and heareth our present speech together here, lo, I fulfill 
that which I have vowed. The elders of the tribes, and 


JOSHUA. 


219 


Moses, the servant of the Lord, called me to be chief 
captain over the fighting-men of Israel. But now thou 
art Joshua, and hast sworn to serve none other but the 
Lord our God. Likewise I know that, as the captain of 
our host, thou canst do greater things than I, who have 
grown grey tending herds, or than any other Hebrew, be he 
who he may ; therefore do I perform my vow made at Suc- 
coth. I will require of Moses, the servant of the Lord, and 
of the elders of the people, that they give thee the office of 
captain of the host. I leave the governance in thy hands ; 
and inasmuch as I know that the Lord readeth the heart, 
I hereby confess that I had evil thoughts of thee in mine. 
But for the good of the people I will forget all strife between 
us, and I give thee my right hand in token thereof ! ” He 
held out his hand as he spoke, and Joshua grasped it, re- 
plying with generous frankness : 

“ These are the words of a man, and so likewise shall 
mine be. For the people’s sake, and the cause we both 
serve, I accept the offered sacrifice. And inasmuch as 
you solemnly called the Lord to witness, who likewise 
heareth me, I will speak the truth in everything. The 
office of captain of the host of Israel which you will lay 
upon me, I was called to by the Lord Himself. The call 
came to me by the mouth of Miriam, your wife, and mine 
it is by right. Yet, that you should be willing to yield 
your own dignity to me, I take as a noble deed ; for I know 
full well how hard it is for a man to resign power, more 
especially in favor of a younger man who is not dear to his 
heart. This you have done, and I thank you. And I, too, 
have had evil thoughts of you, for through you I lost an- 
other blessing which a man finds it harder to give up than 
his office — the love of a woman.” 

Hereupon the blood mounted to Hur’s face, and he 
exclaimed : “ Miriam ! I never forced her to marry me. 
Nay, without my paying for her even, after the manner of 
our fathers, she became my wife of her own free will.” 

“ I know it,” replied Joshua calmly. “ Still, another 
than you had loved and wooed her longer and more fer- 
vently, and the fires of jealousy burn fiercely. But have 
no fears. If you were now to get a bill of divorce and 
bring her to me, that I should open my arms and tent to 
her, I should say : ‘ Wherefor, have you done this thing to 
yourself and to me?’ For I have just now learnt what the 


220 


JOSHUA . 


love of a woman is and can do, and I was mistaken when 
I believed that she loved me as hotly as I loved her. Yes, 
and in the course of my wanderings, with fetters on my 
feet, in grief and misery, I vowed to myself that I would 
devote all that is in me of the fire and force of love to no 
single creature, but all to my people. Not even the love 
of woman shall ever turn me away from the great duty I 
have taken upon me. And as for your wife, I am as a 
stranger to her, unless it be that she sends for me, as a 
prophetess, to declare to me some new purpose of the 
Lord.” 

And he, on his part, held out his hand, and as Hur took 
it, a noise came up from the troop below, calling on the 
head of the house of Judah and their newly-chosen captain, 
for messengers were climbing the mountain-slope, waving 
and pointing to the mighty clouds of dust which swept in 
front of the coming multitude. 


CHAPTER XXV. 

The wanderers came nearer and nearer, and several of the 
young fighting-men hastened forward to meet them. They 
were no longer the jubilant host who had joined trium- 
phantly in Miriam’s hymn of praise ; no, they came slowly, 
mournfully and deviously towards the mountain’s foot. 
They had to climb the pass from the steepest side ; and 
how the bearers groaned, and the women and children 
wailed ; how bitterly the drivers cursed as they urged the 
beasts up the narrow, precipitous path, and how hoarse 
were the voices of the men, parched with thirst, as they set 
their shoulders to a cart to help the brutes that pulled it ! 

These hordes, who, but a few days since, had so thank- 
fully hailed the saving mercy of the Lord, looked, to 
Joshua’s eyes, like a beaten army. The way by which they 
had traveled from their last resting-place, the camp by the 
Red Sea, had been rough and waterless ; and to a people 
who had grown up in the fertile plain of Lower Egypt, it 
had been severe indeed and full of horrors. It had led 
them into the heart of the barren highlands 5 and at every 
step their eyes, wont to gaze on wide and luxuriantly 
green pastures, had fallen on narrow gorges and a naked 


JOSHUA. 


221 


wilderness. After passing tne entrance to the Baba valley, 
as they made their way along it through the desert of Sin, 
they. had seen nothing but ravines hemmed in by cliffs. 
A high mountain of the hue of death towered in awful 
blackness above the rust-brown crags close at hand, and 
the rocks had seemed to the wanderers like monstrous 
piles raised by human hands ; the layers of square blocks 
built up at equal distances stood open to the sky, and it 
might have been fancied that the giant workmen, whose 
hands had aided the Architect of the world, had been 
dismissed before finishing their task, which in this solitude 
need fear no prying eye, and which seemed not intended 
to be the dwelling of any living creature. Walls of granite, 
brown and grey, rose on each side of the path ; and in the 
sand which covered it lay heaps of fragments of red por- 
phyry and coal-black stones, looking as if they had been 
broken by the hammer, or like chips of slag cast out from 
the smelting furnace. Strangely-shaped masses of gleam- 
ing green rock enclosed the small cauldron-shaped valleys 
of the higher ground, which opened endlessly one out of 
another. The mounting path cut them across, and many 
a time, as the pilgrims entered one of these circular gorges, 
the fear came upon them that the cliff beyond would com- 
pel them to return. Their complaints and murmurs had 
been heard, but presently the gap had come in sight 
through which they reached another rocky amphitheatre. 

On first quitting the encampment by the Red Sea they 
had frequently passed clumps of acacia, and patches of a 
fragrant desert-herb which the beasts had eaten with relish ; 
but the further they went into the stony wilderness the drier 
and hotter was the sandy soil, and at last the eye vainly 
sought a tree or a green thing. 

At Elim they had found sweet wells and the shade of 
palms, and at the encampment by the Red Sea there had 
been well-filled tanks, but in the desert of Sin they had 
found no waters to quench their thirst withal, and by mid- 
day it seemed as though malicious demons had cut off all 
shade from the walls of rock, for in these cauldrons and 
bowls of stone everything was scorching glare, and there 
was no shelter anywhere from the burning sun. The last of 
the water they had brought with them had been distributed 
to man and beast at their last halting place, and when the 
host set forth again in the morning, not a drop could be 


222 


JOSHUA . 


found to assuage their raging thirst. Then the old un- 
believing spirit of discontent and rebellion had again come 
over the Israelites. There was no end to the curses on 
Moses and the elders who had brought them out of the 
well-watered land of Egypt to such torment as this. How- 
ever, when at last they had climbed the pass over the ridge, 
their parched throats were too dry for any loud utterance 
of complaint and cursing. 

Old Nun’s messengers, and the youths sent to meet 
them by Ephraim and Hur, hac5 already announced to them 
that the smaller party had tron a victory and set Joshua 
and the rest of the prisoners free ; but their exhaustion 
was so complete that even these glad tidings had affected 
them but little, and brought no more than a faint smile to 
the men’s bearded lips, or a transient gleam of extinct 
brightness to the women’s dark eyes. Miriam even, with 
Milcah, had remained with her tribe, and had not, as was 
her wont, called the women together to return thanks to 
the Almighty. 

Reuben, the husband of her melancholy young compan- 
ion, whose dread of disappointment would not even now 
allow her to indulge in her new-born hope, was a silent, 
uncommunicative man, and the first messenger did not 
know for certain whether he were among the prisoners who 
had been rescued. Milcah, nevertheless, became greatly 
excited, and when Miriam desired her to have patience and 
be still, she ran from one to another of her companions and 
besieged them with questions. And since they could give 
her no information as to the fate of him she loved and had 
lost, she broke into loud sobs and fled back to the pro- 
phetess. From her, indeed, she got small comfort, for 
Miriam, looking forward to hailing her husband as con- 
queror, and receiving the friend of her childhood rescued 
and safe, had fallen into a brooding and anxious mood ; it 
seemed as though some heavy burthen weighed on her soul. 

As soon as he learnt that the attack on the mines had 
proved successful and that Joshua was free, Moses had 
quitted the host of the Hebrews. He had been told that 
the Amalekites, a warlike race inhabiting the oasis at the 
foot of Mount Sinai, were making ready to hinder the 
advance of the exiles across their palmy and fertile island 
in the desert. He had therefore set out with a handful of 
picked men, to make his way across the range and recon- 


JOSHUA . 


223 


noitre the enemy, purposing to rejoin the Israelites between 
Alush and Rephidim, which lay in the valley next before 
the oasis. 

Abidah, the chief of the tribe of Benjamin, with Hurand 
Nun, on their return from the mines, as the heads of the 
tribes of Judah and Ephraim, were to fill his place and that 
of his companions. 

Now, as the multitude came nearer to the pass they 
must climb, Hur and some of the freed men went forward 
to meet them ; one, especially, outstripping the rest, Reu- 
ben, namely, Milcah’s husband. And she on her part had 
recognized him from afar, as she sped down the hillside, 
and, in spite of Miriam’s remonstrance, hurried forward as 
far as to the midst of the tribe of Simeon, which marched 
ahead of their own. And there, the sight of their meeting 
had uplifted many a dejected soul ; and when at length, 
clinging closely together, they hastened back to Miriam, 
as the prophetess gazed into her little friend’s face she 
thought a miracle had been wrought, for the pale lily had 
been transformed to a blooming and glowing rose. And 
her lips, which for so long she had scarcely ever opened 
but for some request or brief reply, now were never still, 
for how much she wanted to know, how much she had to 
ask her taciturn husband, who had suffered such terrible 
things ! They were a comely and joyful couple, and to 
them their path lay not over bare rocks and parched 
desert-tracks, but through a land of spring-flowers where 
brooks murmured and birds sang. 

And Miriam, who had done her utmost to cheer the 
pining girl, rejoiced at the sight of their happiness. 

Soon, however, every gleam of glad sympathy faded from 
her face ; for while Reuben and Milcah walked on winged 
feet, scarce seeming to tread the soil of the desert, she 
marched on with bowed head weighed down by the thought 
that she herself was alone to blame if no such happiness as 
theirs was in prospect for her at this hour. She told herself 
indeed that she had made a great sacrifice, pleasing in the 
eyes of the Lord and worthy of great reward, in refusing 
to hearken to the voice of her heart ; but nevertheless she 
could not help remembering the Egyptian woman who had 
forbidden her to account herself as one of those who truly 
loved Joshua, and who herself had died so young for her 
love’s sake. 


224 


JOSHUA. 


She, Miriam, was alive ; she had killed the most ardent 
desires of her heart; duty forbade her now to think with 
ardent longing of the man who lingered on the mountain- 
top, devoted wholly to the cause of his people and to the 
God of his fathers, a free and noble soul, the future leader 
perhaps of her nation’s armies, and, if Moses would have 
it so, the first and most influential among the Hebrews 
next to himself — but lost, forever lost, to her. If only on 
that fateful night she had followed the leading of hei 
woman’s heart and not that imperious call which placed 
her above all other women, he would long since have 
clasped her in his arms as Reuben held his poor, weak 
Milcah, now so rich in joy and renewed strength. 

What thoughts were these ! She must drive them down 
to the deepest recesses of her heart and destroy them 
utterly ; for her it was sin to long so passionately to see 
him again, and she wished that her husband were by her 
side to protect her against herself and the forbidden 
emotions of this dreadful hour. Hur, the prince of the 
tribe of Judah, was her husband ; not the Egyptian 
captain, the rescued captive. What could she henceforth 
have to do with this son of Ephraim whom she had cast 
off once for all ? Why should she now be aggrieved that 
he did not hasten to meet her ; why should she cherish in 
secret a foolish hope that it was some important duty 
which withheld him on the mountain ? 

She scarcely saw or heard what was going on around 
her, and it was Milcah’s cry of glad gratitude which 
warned her of Hur’s approach. He had waved her a 
greeting from afar ; but he was alone, without Joshua ; and 
the fact that this was a pang to her — nay, that it went to 
her heart — enraged her against herself. She held her 
elderly husband in true esteem, and it was with no effort 
that she welcomed him with affection. He replied to her 
greeting with heartfelt warmth ; and when she pointed to 
the reunited pair and lauded him as a conqueror and the 
deliverer of Reuben and his many fellow-victims, he 
frankly confessed that the praise was not to him but to 
Joshua, whom she herself had called in the name of the 
Lord to be the captain of the army of Israel. 

At this she turned pale, and, though the path led steeply 
upward, she pressed her husband with urgent questions. 
When she learnt that Joshua was resting on the ridge with 


yOSHUA. 225 

his father and the young fighting-men, and drinking wine, 
and that Hur had pledged himself to withdraw if Moses 
should appoint Joshua to be captain of the host, her knit 
brows darkened below her lofty brow, and with stern 
severity she replied : 

“You are my lord, and it ill-beseems me to resist your 
will, even when you so far forget what is due to your 
wife as to give way to the man who once dared to lift his 
eyes to her.” 

Hur eagerly broke in : 

“ But henceforth you are as a stranger to him ; and even 
if I should give you a bill of divorce he would no longer 
woo you. ,, 

“Indeed!” said she with a forced smile. “And is it 
to him that you owe this announcement ? ” 

“ He has devoted himself body and soul to the welfare 
of the people and renounces the love of woman,” replied 
Hur. 

But she exclaimed : “ Renunciation is easy when de- 
sire could bring nothing in its train but rejection and 
disgrace. It is not he, who in our day of greatest need 
sought help of the Egyptians — not he but you who ought 
to be captain over the fighting-men of Israel — you alone 
who led the Hebrews to their first victory at the store- 
house of Succoth, and whom the Lord Himself by His 
servant Moses charged to lead the fighting-men of Israel ! ” 

At this Hur looked in some uneasiness at this woman 
for whom a late but ardent love had glowed up in him, 
and seeing her bosom heave and her cheeks flush red, he 
knew not whether to ascribe it to the fatigue of climbing 
or the lofty ambition of her aspiring soul, which she had 
now transferred to the person of her husband. 

He was, indeed, glad to think that she cared so much 
more for him than for the younger and more heroic man 
whose return caused him some anxiety ; still, he had 
grown grey in the stern fulfillment of duty, and what he 
thought it right to do no man could hinder his doing. To 
the wife of his youth, whom he had buried many years 
since, his merest sign had been a command, and from 
Miriam he had as yet met with no contradiction. That 
Joshua was the most fit to command the fighting-men was 
beyond a doubt, and he replied, panting somewhat, for he, 
too, found the ascent hard : “ Your high esteem honors 

*5 


226 


JOSHUA. 


and pleases me ; but although Moses and the elders have 
promoted me, you must remember the Heap at Succoth, 
and my vow. I bear it in mind and shall abide by it.” 

She looked aside and said no more till they had reached 
the top. 

The victorious youths hailed them from the summit 
with loud acclamations. The joy of meeting, the pro- 
visions they had won from the foe, and the good drink 
which was sparingly measured out to revive those who 
most needed it, raised the fallen courage of the exhausted 
wanderers, and the thirsty multitude shortened their rest 
on the ridge to reach Dophka all the sooner. They had 
heard from Joshua that they would find there not only 
some ruined tanks but also a hidden spring of whose exist- 
ence he had been informed by the driver of the gang of 
prisoners. 

Their way now lay down hill. Haste is the watchword 
when thirsty souls know that wells are within reach ; and 
soon after sunset they arrived in the valley of turquoise 
mines, where they encamped at the foot of the hill on 
which the now ruined stronghold and store-houses of 
Dophka had lately stood. The well, hidden in a grove of 
acacia sacred to Hathor, was very soon discovered. Fires 
were quickly lighted. The wavering hearts, which in the 
desert of Sin had sunk almost to despair, now swelled 
again with the love of life, with hope and thankful trust. 
The fine acacia trees indeed were felled to open a way to 
the spring whose refreshing waters worked the wondrous 
change. 

Joshua and Miriam had met on the ridge, but had only 
had time for a brief greeting. Here, in the camp, they 
were thrown together once more. 

It was already late, for the elders had held long counsel 
as to the measures to be taken for an unexpected attack 
on the Amalekites. Nun and Joshua had joined the 
assembly. The princely and reverend old man’s son had 
been gladly welcomed, and his counsel, that they should 
form a vanguard of the younger men and a reserve of the 
older warriors, was readily agreed to ; they were also to 
send small parties of picked men to spy out the enemy. 
Joshua found himself in fact entrusted with everything 
appertaining to the conduct and safety of a considerable 
army. God Himself had chosen him to be their captain, 


JOSHUA . 


227 


and Moses, by leaving him that warning word to be 
“ steadfast and strong/’ had confirmed him in the office. 
Hur, likewise, who as yet held the post, was ready to 
resign it to him ; and of a surety that man would keep his 
word, although he had not yet declared his purpose before 
the elders. At any rate Joshua was treated as though he 
were indeed the captain, and he felt himself their leader. 

After the assembly of the elders had broken up, Hur 
had desired Joshua to accompany him to his tent, notwith- 
standing the lateness of the hour ; and the warrior had 
consented, for indeed he desired to speak fully to Miriam. 
He would fain prove to her in her husband’s presence that 
he had found the path which she had so zealously pointed 
out to him. 

The tenderest passions of a Hebrew must be dumb in 
the presence of another man’s wife. Miriam must know 
full well that he had nothing more to ask of her. Indeed, 
he had entirely ceased, even in his hours of solitude, to 
care or long for her. He confessed to himself that she 
was a grand and queenly woman, but now he felt a chill 
as he thought of that lofty dignity. 

Nay, all her doings appeared to him now in a new light. 
When she greeted him on the hill-top with a cold smile he 
had felt convinced that henceforth they were strangers 
indeed ; and as they sat by the blazing fire in front of the 
elders’ tent, where they now met again, this feeling grew 
stronger and stronger. 

Miriam had long since parted from Reuben and his 
Milcah, and during her solitary waiting many thoughts had 
crossed through her brain of what she would now make 
this man feel — the man to whom in an hour of strong 
excitement she opened the depths of her soul. 

We are always most prone to be angry with those to 
whom we have done a wrong, and a woman holds the gift 
of her love as so great and precious that even the man she 
afterwards rejects is to think of her with gratitude for ever 
after. And Joshua had boasted that he had ceased to care 
for her whom he had once ardently desired, and who had 
confessed her love for him — yea, even if she were offered 
to him. Aye, and he had proved his words, for he had 
been content to wait with the others instead of coming to 
meet her. 

At last he came, and with him her husband who was 


228 


JOSHUA. 


so ready to make way for him. But she was still here to 
keep her eyes open in behalf of the too generous Hur. 

The older man, to whose fate she had linked her own, 
and whose faithful devotion touched her deeply, should 
not be supplanted by any other man in the high place he 
filled by right ; he must cling to it, if only because she did 
not choose to be the wife of any man who could not assert 
himself as the foremost of the Hebrews after her own 
brothers. 

Never had this much-venerated woman, who for her part 
believed, too, in her own gift of prophecy, felt so bitter, so 
sore and indignant. She did not own it to herself, but it 
was as though the hatred which Moses had fired in her soul 
against the Egyptians, and which no longer had an outlet, 
needed some fresh object, and was now turned against 
the only man she ever had loved. But a true woman 
can make a show of friendship in word and demeanor 
to any one, excepting those she scorns, and Miriam 
received her belated guest with haughty but gracious 
condescension, and begged him to give her further details 
as to his captivity and release. But she called him by his 
old name of Hosea, and when he perceived that this was 
evidently intentional, he asked her whether she had for- 
gotten that it was she herself who, as the messenger of the 
Most High, had bidden him henceforth to call himself 
Joshua. To this she replied — and her features assumed a 
sharper gravity of expression — that her memory was good, 
but that she would fain forget the time he referred to. He 
himself had rejected the name bestowed on him by the 
Lord, inasmuch as he had preferred to seek the favor of 
the Egyptian king rather than the help promised him by 
God. She, faithful to her old habits, should continue to 
call him Hosea. 

The simple-hearted soldier was not prepared for such 
a hostile tone ; however, he preserved a fittingly calm 
demeanor, and replied with composure that he would but 
rarely give her the opportunity of calling him by any 
name. Those who were his friends found no difficulty in 
learning to call him Joshua. 

To this Miriam answered that she likewise would be 
willing to do so if her husband agreed and he himself in- 
sisted on it, for a man’s name was but as a garment. 
With offices and dignities it was another matter. 


JOSHUA. 


22g 


When Joshua then declared that he had always believed 
that it was God Himself who had called him by the voice 
of His prophetess, herself, to be the captain of the hosts of 
Israel, and that he conceded to no man, save only to Moses, 
the right to deprive him of that office, Hur agreed with 
him and offered him his hand. 

At this Miriam threw off the self-control she had hitherto 
preserved, and exclaimed with vehement defiance : 

“ In this I am not of your mind. You evaded the call 
of the Most High ! Can you deny it ? And inasmuch as 
the Almighty found you at Pharaoh’s footstool, instead of 
at the head of His people, He deprived you of the office 
to which He had raised you. He, Himself, the Mightiest 
of Captains, commanded the wind and waves, and they 
swallowed up the enemy. I sang a hymn of praise to the 
Lord, and the people joined in my thanksgiving. And on 
that same day God called another man than you to be chief 
of the Hebrew host, and he, as you know, is my husband. 
And although Hur indeed has never learnt the arts of 
war, yet the Lord surely guides his arm; and who is it 
that giveth the victory but the Lord Almighty ? My hus- 
band, I tell you once again — my husband alone is the 
captain, and though in his excess of generosity he for- 
gets it, yet he will assert his right to his office when he 
remembers whose hand it was that chose him ; and I, his 
wife, life up my voice to bring it to his mind.” 

On this Joshua turned to go, to put an end to this un- 
pleasant discussion, but Hur, very wroth at his wife’s 
interference between men, held him fast, assuring him 
that he should abide by his renunciation. The wind might 
blow away a woman’s words of displeasure ; it must rest 
with Moses to declare whom the Lord had chosen to be 
captain of His people. 

As he spoke Hur looked in his wife’s face with stern 
dignity, as warning her to reflect ; and this seemed to have 
had the desired effect. Miriam turned first pale and then 
deep scarlet, and she, too, detained their guest as though 
she desired to make amends, beckoning him with a trem- 
bling hand to come closer to her. 

“ Yet one thing I must say,” she began with a deep 
breath, “ that you may not misunderstand me. I call every 
man my friend who devotes himself to the cause of Israel, 
and Hur has told me how much you purpose to sacrifice 


230 


JOSHUA . 


to our people. It was your confidence in Pharaoh’s 
clemency which came between us, and I know how to 
value your deep and decisive breach with the Egyptians. 
Still, I only truly understood the greatness of your deed 
when I learnt that it was not only life-long habit, but 
another and stronger tie that bound you to the foe.” 

“ What is the aim of such a speech? ” Joshua broke in, 
feeling quite sure that she was laying some fresh arrow 
to the bowstring intended to wound him. But she paid 
no heed to the interruption, and went on with a defiant 
sparkle in her eye which belied the moderation of her 
tongue : 

“ After the guidance of the Lord had saved us from the 
foe, the sea cast up on shore the fairest woman we had 
seen for many a day. I bound up the wounds inflicted on 
her by a Hebrew woman, and she then confessed that she 
was full of love for you, and with her dying breath spoke 
of you as the idol of her heart.” 

At this Joshua, deeply incensed, exclaimed : 

“ If this were all the truth, O wife of Hur, then my 
father would have told me an untruth. For, as I learnt 
from him, it was in the presence of those only who love 
me that the hapless woman made the last confession ; not 
before you. And she was wise to mistrust your presence, 
for you would never have understood her ! ” 

He saw a suspicious smile play on Miriam’s lips, but he 
heeded it not and went on : “ Your wit is — oh, ten times 

keener than that poor child’s ever was. But in your 
heart, which once was open to such great things, there is 
no room for love. It will grow old and cease to beat before 
it has learned what love is ! Yea, in spite of your flashing 
eyes I tell you this : you are indeed more than a woman ; 
you are a prophetess, and I cannot boast of such grace. I 
am no more than a man, and understand the use of the 
sword better than looking into futurity, and nevertheless 
I can foretell one thing : you will cherish the hatred of me 
which burns in your soul. You will even light up the 
flame in your husband’s heart and strive to fan it with 
the utmost zeal, and I know why ! The fiery ambition 
which possesses you will not suffer you to be happy as the 
wife of a man who must stand second to any other. You 
refuse to call me by the name you yourself gave me. But 
if hatred and pride do not altogether choke the one feeling 


JOSHUA . 


231 


which unites us, namely, our love of our people, the day 
will come when of your own free will you will approach 
me and call me Joshua, unbidden, out of the fullness of 
your heart.” 

With these words he bowed his head in brief farewell to 
Miriam and her husband, and disappeared in the darkness. 

Hur looked after him gloomily, and spoke not a word 
till the footsteps of their departing guest had died away in 
the silence of the night. Till this hour he had always looked 
up to his wife with tender admiration, but now the wrath 
he had restrained with difficulty knew no bounds. With 
two long strides he came close to her ; she was even paler 
than he, as she stood gazing into the fire like one dis- 
traught. His voice had lost its rich metallic ring, and 
sounded harsh and thin as he said : “ I was so bold as to 
woo a maiden who believed herself nearer to God than 
other women, and now she is mine she makes me repent of 
my audacity ! ” 

“ Repent ? ” She paused with white lips, and as she 
looked up at him, a defiant glance sparkled in her black 
eyes. He seized her hand with so firm a grip that it hurt 
her, and went on as he had begun : “Yes, you make me 
repent of it. Shame on me if I suffer this hour of degrada- 
tion to be followed by such another ! ” 

She tried to wrench her hand free but he would not sur- 
render it and went on : “I wooed and won you to be the 
pride of my house. I believed I was sowing honor, I 
have reaped dishonor — for what deeper disgrace may be- 
fall a man than that the wife should have the mastery and 
dare to wound the heart of his friend, whom hospitality 
should protect, with hostile words. A woman, such as you 
are not, a simple, right-minded wife, who could look back 
on her husband’s past life and think not merely of how he 
may gain promotion because she desires to share his great- 
ness — such a wife would not need to be reminded that 
Hur, the man who is your husband, has earned dignities 
and honors enough in the course of a long life to be able 
to lay down some portion of them without losing by it. 
Not he who is chief in command, but he who does most 
from self-sacrificing love of his nature, is the greatest in 
Jehovah’s sight. You crave to stand aloof and be honored 
by the crowd as the chosen handmaid of God. I do not 
forbid it so long as you do not forget what your duty as a 


232 


JOSHUA . 


wife and mistress requires of you. To me, indeed, you 
also owe love, for you promised to love me on the day 
when we were wed : howbeit, the human heart can only 
give what it has to give ; and Joshua is right when he 
says that the love which glows and gives warmth is far 
from your cold soul.” 

He turned his back on her and withdrew into the dark- 
ness of the tent ; she remained standing by the fire, the 
flickering blaze lighting up her beautiful pallid features. She 
set her teeth tightly and clenched her hands over her heav- 
ing bosom as she gazed after her husband. He had stood 
before her in the consciousness of his dignity, grey-haired, 
tall and reverend, a worthy and princely leader of the 
people. Each of his words had pierced her heart like a 
spear thrust. The power of truth had weighed his speech, 
and had held up a mirror to Miriam which showed her 
an image from which she started in horror. Now she 
longed to hasten after him, and beseech him to give her 
again the love with which he had hitherto surrounded 
her ; she, alone in the world, had gratefully acknowledged 
that she felt that she could fully return the precious boon, 
for she longed, ah, how ardently, to hear one kind and for- 
giving word from his lips. Her own heart seemed to her 
as a cornfield blighted by malignant mildew ; withered, 
dried up and ruined, where all had been so fresh and 
blossoming. 

Her thoughts flew to the rich arable of Goshen w'hich, 
after bearing the richest crops, remained hard and parched 
till the river rose to soften it again, and bring the seed 
laid in its bosom to life and verdure. Thus was it with 
her ; but she had cast the ripening ears into the fire, and 
willfully built up a dam between the beneficent stream and 
the dry land. 

But there was yet time. She knew, indeed, that in one 
thing he was unjust, that she was a woman like any other, 
and capable of devoting herself with passionate ardor to 
the man she loved. It depended only on her to prove this 
to him and bring him to her arms. Just now, to be sure, 
he had a right to regard her as hard and unfeeling ; for 
there, where love was wont to bloom, a bitter spring had 
risen which poisoned all it touched. 

Was this the revenge taken by her heart whose ardent 
desires she had so heroically smothered ? 


JOSHUA. 


*33 


God had scorned her most precious offering, it was im- 
possible to doubt the fact. His presence no longer 
uplifted her soul in visions of glory, and she could hardly 
call herself His prophetess any longer. This sacrifice had 
led her, who was truthful, to falsehood ; conscious of al- 
ways desiring the right, she had hitherto lived at peace 
with herself ; now she suffered tortures of unrest. Since 
that momentous step, nothing she cared for had smiled on 
her, who had been so full of hope. She who had never 
seen the woman for whom she need make way, had been 
sent from the presence of a poor dying stranger. She had 
always felt kindly to every one who loved her race and the 
sacred cause of her people, and now she had insulted one 
of their best and noblest champions with bitter wrath. 
The poorest serf’s wife could win the husband who loved 
her to a closer union, and she had only estranged hers. 

She had come to his hearth seeking only shelter from 
the cold, but she had found unexpected warmth, and 
his generosity and love had fallen on her aching soul like 
balm. He could not, indeed, give her back what she had 
lost, but he was a welcome substitute. And he now 
believed her incapable of a tender emotion ; still, she 
must have love to live, and no sacrifice would be too great 
to win his back again. 

But pride was no less a condition of her existence, and 
each time she made up her mind to humble herself and 
open her heart to her husband, a fear of degradation 
checked her ; and there she stood, as though spell-bound, 
till the brands at her feet fell over and died out, and dark- 
ness surrounded her. 

Then a strange fear fell upon her. 

Two bats, which had come forth from the mines to 
flutter around the fire, flew close to her face with a ghostly 
stir. Everything prompted her to retire to the tent, to go 
back to her husband ; and with sudden decision she went 
into the spacious room, lighted by a lamp. But Hur was 
not there, and a slave-girl who met her told her that he 
had said he would remain with his son and grandson till it 
was-time to depart. 

A sense of bitter woe fell upon her ; she lay down to rest, 
more desolate and ashamed than she had ever felt since 
her childhood. 

A few hours later the camp was astir, and when, in the 


234 


JOSHUA. 


grey light of dawn, her husband entered the tent with a 
brief greeting, her pride once more uplifted its head and 
her reply was cold and demure. 

He was not alone ; his son Uri followed him in. He 
looked graver, too, than usual, for the men of Judah had 
assembled at an early hour and besought him not to sur- 
render the captaincy in favor of a man of another tribe 
than theirs. 

This had come upon him as a surprise. He could only 
refer them to Moses, and the hope that their leader’s 
decision might be given against himself grew keener as his 
young wife’s resolute glance again roused his spirit to 
opposition. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

With refreshed body and revived hearts the Hebrews set 
forth again early on the following morning ; and by this 
time, the little spring, which they had even dug deeper to 
promote its flow, was for the time exhausted. They cared 
the less that it refused to yield any water to carry on their 
journey, because they expected to find some wells at 
Alush. 

The sun mounted the cloudless sky in radiant majesty. 
Its splendor exerted its stirring influence on the hearts of 
men even, and the rocks and yellow sandy soil shone as 
brightly as the blue vault above. The pure aromatic air 
of the desert, cooled by the hours of darkness, was so light 
that it was a pleasure to breathe, and walking was 
enjoyment. 

The men showed firmer confidence, the women’s eyes 
flashed more brightly than for some time past, for the Lord 
had shown once more that He was mindful of His people 
in their need ; and fathers and mothers looked proudly on 
their sons who had overpowered the enemy. In every 
tribe some one had been welcomed home who had been 
given up for lost, and it was a joyful duty to heal the 
injuries inflicted by the hard labor of the mines. More- 
over, Joshua’s deliverance was a cause of rejoicing, not 
alone among his own people, but throughout the multitude ; 
and by all, excepting those of the tribe of Judah, he was 


JOSHUA . 


235 


now called by that new name, with full belief in the com- 
forting promise conveyed by it. The young men who, 
under him, had put the Egyptians to rout, told in their 
tribes what sort of man Joshua was, how he thought of 
everything, and put every one in the very place where he 
could do best. The mere light of his eye as it fell on a 
man fired his warlike ardor ; the foe quaked only to hear 
him shout the battle-cry. 

And those who spoke of old Nun, or of -the noble lad, 
his grandson, did so with kindling glances. The high pre- 
tensions of the tribe of Ephraim had often been a source 
of disagreement, but on this occasion it was by common 
consent allowed to march first. Only the men of Judah 
were heard to murmur and complain. They must, no 
doubt, have some serious ground of discontent, for Hur, 
the prince of their tribe, and his wife walked on with 
bowed heads as if oppressed by a heavy burthen, and those 
who spoke with them had certainly better have chosen 
some other opportunity. So long as the sun’s rays still 
fell aslant, there was a little shade cast by the sandstone 
peaks which hemmed the path in on both sides, or stood 
up in its midst, and when the sons of Korah began to sing 
a hymn, old and young joined in ; Milcah, no longer 
pallid, loudest and gladdest of all, and Reuben, her 
released and happy husband. 

The children picked up the golden fruits of the colocynth, 
which fell from the now withered gourds above as if they 
dropped from heaven, and brought them to their parents. 
But they were as bitter as gall to eat, and a morose old 
man of the tribe of Zebulon, who kept some of the stout 
rinds to serve to hold salve, said : “ Thus will this day be. 
It has a fair seeming ; but when the sun is high and we 
lack water we shall know its bitterness ! ” 

And his prophecy was only too soon fulfilled ; for the 
path, after leaving the region of sand, went on through 
rocky cliffs like walls of red brick and grey stone, up and 
up, now at an easy slope and now very steep ; the sun, too, 
mounted higher and higher, and the heat increased as the 
hours went on. Never had its arrows fallen more cruelly 
on the pilgrims, striking pitilessly on their unprotected 
heads and necks. Here an old man and there a young 
one sank to the ground under its fierce glow, or tottered 
forward like one drunk, supported by his neighbors and 


236 JOSHUA. 

clasping his hand to his brow. The blistered skin peeled 
off their faces and hands, and there was not one whose 
tongue and gums were not dried by the heat, or whose 
newly-found courage it did not quell. 

The beasts toiled sullenly forward with drooping heads 
and heavy feet, or rolled rebelliously in the sand till the 
herdsman’s thong compelled them to collect their strength 
for a fresh effort. 

At noon the Israelites were allowed to halt, but there 
was not a hand-breadth of shade to give them the reprieve 
they sought ; and those who threw themselves down on 
the ground found fresh torment instead of rest. Thus the 
hapless wretches of their own accord set forth again soon 
for the wells of Alush. 

Until this day, as soon as the sun had passed the meridian 
and begun to sink towards the west, the heat had abated, 
and a fresher breeze had fanned their brows before the fall 
of dusk, but here the rocks for hours gave out the heat 
they had absorbed from the noon-tide sun, till at length a 
faintly cooler breath came up from the sea on the west. At 
the same time the vanguard, which, by Joshua’s advice, 
marched foremost, halted, and the whole multitude came 
to a standstill. Men, women and children all fixed their 
eyes and pointed with hands, sticks and crooks to the 
same spot, for there, before them, a strange and novel 
spectacle attracted their gaze. A shout of amazement 
and delight broke from their parched and weary lips which 
had long ceased to stir for speech ; it rapidly spread from 
one division to the next, from tribe to tribe, to the lepers 
that closed the train and the vanguard beyond. One and 
another elbowed his neighbor and whispered a name 
familiar to them all — that of the Holy Mountain where the 
Lord had promised to Moses that he would lead His 
people into a good and pleasant land flowing with milk 
and honey. None had told the weary multitude that this 
was the place, and yet they knew that they beheld Horeb 
and the peak of Sinai, the most sacred summit of this 
mass of granite. 

Although but a mountain, yet was it the throne of the 
Almighty God of their fathers ! 

At this hour the whole sacred hill seemed, like the 
burning bush out of which He had there spoken to His 
chosen servant, to be steeped in fire. Its seven-peaked 


JOSHUA . 


2 37 


crown towered from afar, high above the hills and vales 
that surrounded it, burning like an enormous ruby lighted 
up by a blaze of glory in the clouds. 

Such a sight none of them had ever beheld. But the 
sun sank lower and lower, and disappeared in the sea 
which the mountain hid from their view ; the glowing ruby 
turned to solemn amethyst and then to the deep purple of 
the violet ; but the people still gazed spell-bound on the 
Holy Mount. Nay, even when the day-star had altogether 
vanished, and only its reflection bordered the edge of a 
long, level cloud with gleaming gold, they opened their 
eyes the wider, for a man of the tribe of Benjamin, his 
brain turned by the splendor of the scene, declared that 
they beheld the trailing mantle of Jehovah, and those 
about him to whom he pointed it out caught the pious 
rapture. 

For a little while the pilgrims had forgotten thirst and 
exhaustion in watching the inspiring spectacle. But ere 
long their high enthusiasm was turned to the deepest dis- 
couragement, for when night fell, and after a short march 
they reached the wells of Alush, it was discovered that 
the desert tribe which had encamped here yesterday had 
choked the spring, which at best was but brackish, with 
stones and rubbish. 

All the water they had carried with them had been used 
before reaching Dophka, and the exhausted spring at the 
mines had not sufficed to fill the skins. Thirst, which at 
first had only dried their gums, now began to burn their 
vitals. Their scorched throats could not swallow the solid 
food of which they had abundance. On every side there 
was nothing to be seen but heart-broken looks, and pitiable 
or disgraceful scenes. Men and women storming, cursing, 
weeping, and groaning, or else sunk in morose despair. 
Some, whose wailing infants clamored for water, had 
gathered round the choked well and were fighting for a 
spot on the ground where they hoped to collect a few 
drops of the precious fluid in a sherd. And the beasts 
lowed and bleated so miserably that it cut their drivers to 
the heart like a reproach. 

Very few cared to exert themselves to pitch a tent. The 
night was so warm, and the sooner they went forward the 
better, for Moses had promised to join them again at a 
spot but a few hours further on. He alone could help 


238 


JOSHUA. 


•them; it was his bounden duty to save man and beast 
from perishing of drought. 

If the God who had promised them such great things 
left them to perish in the wilderness with all their little 
ones, then the man in whose guidance they had put their 
trust was a deceiver, and the God whose power and mercy 
he was never weary of preaching to them was falser and 
feebler than the idols with heads of men and beasts whom 
they had worshiped in Egypt. Blasphemy and curses 
were mingled with threats, and when Aaron came forth to 
comfort the thirsty pilgrims with words of hope, many a 
clenched fist was shaken at him. 

Even Miriam was presently forbidden by her husband 
to console the women with kindly speech, for a woman 
whose sinking child clung dying to its mother’s dried-up 
breast had picked up a stone to fling, and the others had 
followed her example. 

Old Nun and his son were more fortunate. They were 
both agreed that Joshua must fight whatever post Moses 
might desire him to fill ; and Hur himself had led him 
forth to the fighting-men, who had hailed him gladly. The 
old man and his son both knew the secret of inspiring 
courage. They spoke to the men of the well-watered 
oasis of the Amalekites, which was now not far away, and 
reminded them that the Lord Himself had provided the 
weapons they held in their hands. Joshua assured them, 
too, that they far out-numbered the warriors of the desert- 
tribe. If their young men only showed themselves as brave 
as they had been at Dophka and the coppermines, by 
God’s help they should win the victory. 

Soon after midnight Joshua, after holding council with 
the elders, bid the trumpets sound to call the fighting- 
men together. He set them in ranks under the starlit 
sky, appointed a leader to each division, and impressed on 
each the hearing of the word of command he was to 
obey. 

They came at the call, half perishing with thirst ; but 
the fresh efforts to which their captain exhorted them 
wonderfully revived their fainting energies ; as well as the 
hope of victory and a precious reward, a plot of land, 
namely, at the foot of the Holy Mountain, rich in wells 
and palms. 

Among the youths came Ephraim, giving life to the 


JOSHUA . 


239 


others by his own inexhaustible vigor. And now, when 
the captain, to whom God had already proved that He 
thought him worthy of the help which his name promised, 
addressed the men, bidding them put their trust in the 
Lord Almighty, it had quite a different effect from that 
produced by Aaron, whose admonitions they had hearkened 
to every day since they set out. 

When Joshua had ended, a jubilant shout went up from 
many young throats though parched with thirst : “ Hail to 
the captain! You are our leader; we will follow none 
other ! ” 

Then he went on, gravely and decisively, to explain to 
them that he was prepared to show to the utmost such 
obedience as he required of them. He was ready to 
march as the last man in the lowest place, if it should be 
Moses’ will. 

The stars were still bright in a cloudless sky when a 
cow-horn called the Hebrews to set forth again. A runner 
had already been sent on to report to Moses of their evil 
plight, and Ephraim had flown after him as soon as he was 
free to do so. But throughout the morning’s march 
Joshua kept his troops in strict order, as though an 
onslaught was to be expected. Meanwhile he took advan- 
tage of every minute to teach the fighting-men and their 
leaders something for the coming struggle, to note their 
behavior, and close up their ranks. He thus kept them on 
the alert till the stars began to pale. 

Few indeed were the murmurs or complaints among the 
fighting-men, but rebellion, curses and threats were all the 
more rife among those who bore no weapons. Long before 
dawn the cry was heard, more and more often, of “ Down 
with Moses ! We will stone him when we find him ! ” 
And indeed their knees were failing them for weariness, and 
the misery of their wives and children was visible to 
every eye. 

Not a few, indeed, picked a piece of rock from the path 
with a wild curse and flashing eye ; and at last the fury of 
the multitude waxed so wild and reckless that Hur called a 
council of the better disposed among the elders, and they 
hastened on with the fighting-men of the tribe of Judah to 
protect Moses, if it should come to the worst, by force of^ 
arms against the rebels. Joshua took on himself the task of 
keeping back the mutineers, who with curses and threats 


240 


JOSHUA. 


strove to outstrip the rest. When at last the sun rose in 
blinding splendor, the march was no more than a struggle 
onwards of enfeebled wretches. Even the men at 
arms tottered forwards half-paralyzed. Still, when the 
rebels tried to pass them, they did their duty and thrust 
them back with spear and sword. The valley along which 
they made their way was shut in on both sides by steep 
walls of grey granite which glittered and sparkled strangely 
as the slanting sunbeams fell on the fragments of quartz 
thickly imbedded in the primaeval rock. By noon it would 
be scorchingly hot again between these steep cliffs, in some 
parts almost closing across the path ; as yet, however, they 
lay in morning shade. And the beasts, at any rate, found 
refreshment, for among the rocks in many places a succu- 
lent aromatic plant afforded them pasture, and the shep- 
herd boys, taking off their loin cloths, filled them with the 
fodder in spite of their own exhaustion, to offer it to their 
famishing favorites. 

Thus they struggled on for less than an hour, when sud- 
denly a loud shout of joy rang out, spreading from the fore- 
most in the van to the last man in the long train. No one 
had been told in so many words to what it owed its origin, 
but every one knew it must mean that they had come upon 
fresh water. Then Ephraim came flying back with the glad 
tidings, and what a miracle it worked on the exhausted 
wanderers ! 

They pulled themselves up as though they had already 
emptied the brimming jar at a deep draught, and struggled 
forward at double speed. The ranks of fighting-men now 
no longer hindered them, but hailed those of their tribe 
who hastened past them with glad greetings. 

Soon, however, the hurrying tide stopped of its own 
accord ; for at the spot where refreshment was to be found 
the foremost came to a standstill, and behind them the whole 
multitude were checked more effectually than by moats 
and walls. The toiling pilgrims had become a vast, dis- 
orderly crowd, filling the whole valley. At last men and 
women turned back carrying well-filled water jars in their 
hands or on their heads, beckoning joyfully to their friends 
with words of encouragement, and making their way 
through the throng to their own families ; but the precious 
fluid was snatched away from many before it could be con- 
veyed to its destination. 


JOSHUA . 


241 


Joshua and his troop had made their way to the immediate 
vicinity of the wells, to keep order among the thirsty peo- 
ple. However, for some little time there was nothing for 
it but patience, while the mighty men of the tribe of 
Judah, who, with Hur at their head, had been the first to 
reach the spot, wielded their axes, and strove with levers 
hastily made out of the trunks of acacia trees to clear 
away the huge boulders which strewed the path, and open 
up the way to the spring which leapt forth from several rifts 
in the rock. 

At first it had flowed among a chaos of moss-grown blocks 
of granite ; but presently they succeeded in directing the 
flow of the precious fluid, and in checking the water by form- 
ing a sort of tank where even the cattle could drink. Those 
who had filled their jars had caught the water in its over- 
flow from the hastily-contrived dam. Now the men whose 
duty it was to watch the camp kept the throng off, so as to 
give the water time to settle and clear in the large new 
basin which it filled with amazing rapidity. 

In sight actually of the blessing for which they had so 
loudly clamored, it was easy now to have patience. They 
had found the treasure ; all that was necessary was to 
husband it. Not a word of discontent or complaint or 
reviling was now to be heard ; many indeed looked abashed 
and ashamed on this new mercy from the Most High. 

Loud and jubilant voices were heard far and wide, 
shouting and talking ; but the man of God who knew 
every rock and valley, every pasture and spring of the 
hills of Horeb better than any one, and who had again been 
the instrument of such great blessing to his people, had 
retired into a neighboring ravine, as if seeking refuge there 
from the thanks and acclamations which rose louder and 
spread further every moment, seeking peace and silence 
above all things for his deeply-agitated spirit. 

Presently hymns of thanksgiving to the Lord were to 
be heard from the Hebrew multitude, who, refreshed and 
revived, and overflowing with gratitude, were pitching their 
camp with as much hope and confidence as ever they had 
known. The sound of song, of happy laughter, jests and 
encouraging cries, formed an accompaniment to the work 
of putting up tents, and the encampment was rapidly 
effected, as rapidly as if it had been raised from the earth 
by a magic spell. 


242 


JOSHUA. 


The eyes of the young men flashed with martial ardor, 
and many a beast shed its blood to make a feast. 

Mothers, after doing their part by the hearth and 
in the tent, led their little ones to the spring to show 
them the spot where Moses with his staff had pointed 
out the spring bubbling through the rift in the granite. 
Many men likewise stood with hands and eyes raised 
to Heaven round the place where Jehovah had shown 
such grace to His people, and among them were not 
a few of those murmurers who had picked up stones 
wherewith to stone the servant of God. None doubted 
that they here beheld the result of a great miracle. 
The elders impressed on the little ones that they should 
never forget this day or this water, and an old grand- 
mother was wetting her grandchildren’s brows at the 
brink of the pool to ensure divine protection for them for 
the rest of their lives. 

Hope, thankfulness and the glow of trust prevailed on 
all hands ; even the fear of the hostile Amalekites had 
vanished, for what ill could come to him who put his trust 
in the mercy of so omnipotent a Protector. 

Joy was absent from one tent alone, and that the finest 
of them — the tent of the head of the tribe of Judah. 
Miriam sat among her women after distributing the mid- 
day meal in silence to the men overflowing with grateful 
enthusiasm ; she had heard from Milcah’s husband Reuben 
that Moses had made Joshua captain of the Hebrew tent 
in the presence of all the elders. Hur, her husband, she 
also was told, had expressed himself ready and glad to 
renounce the dignity in favor of the son of Nun. 

The prophetess had not chosen to join in the people’s 
song of praise ; when Milcah and her women had besought 
her to go with them to the well, she had bidden them go 
without her. She was now expecting her husband, and 
wished to meet him alone ; she must show him that she 
desired his forgiveness. But he did not come ; for, after 
the council of the elders had broken up, he remained with 
the new captain to help him to arrange his men, and this 
he did as a subordinate, obedient to Hosea, who owed his 
call and his name of Joshua to her. 

Her waiting women, who had gathered about her, were 
busy spinning ; but she could not endure this humble toil, 
and while she sat with idle hands staring into vacancy the 


JOSHUA. 


243 


hours went slowly indeed. And at the same time her pur- 
pose of humbling herself before her husband grew feebler. 
She felt impelled to pray for strength to bow before the 
man who was in truth her master; but the prophetess, 
usually so apt at fervent prayer, could not find the right vein 
of devotion. If now and then she succeeded in collecting 
her thoughts and uplifting her heart, something disturbed 
her. Every fresh report which was brought to her from the 
camp added to her displeasure. When at last dusk was 
falling, a messenger came desiring her to have no care for 
the men’s evening meal, which had already been long 
prepared and waiting; Hur, with his son and grandson, 
were about to accept the bidding of Nun and Joshua to 
share theirs. 

At this she felt it hard to restrain her tears, and if she had 
suffered them to flow unchecked they would have been the 
bitter drops of wrath and wounded pride, not tears of 
distress and regretful longing. 

During the hours of the evening watch the warriors all 
marched past her, and from rank to rank the cry re-echoed 
of “ Hail to Joshua ! ” And those who repeated the watch- 
word, “ Steadfast and strong,” did so in honor of the man 
she once had loved, but now hated as she confessed to 
herself. None but the men of his own tribe had honored 
her husband with a special cry. Was this their gratitude 
for the generosity which had led him to abdicate the post, 
to which he alone had a right, in favor of a younger man ? 
It cut her to the heart to see her husband so deposed ; but 
it wounded her yet more to find that Hur could thus 
abandon his lately wedded wife. 

The evening meal at the door of the Ephraimites’ tent 
was a long one. A little before midnight she sent her 
serving-women to bed, and lay down herself to wait till her 
husband should return, to confess to him all that had 
troubled and angered her, and what she most desired. 

She thought that it would be easy to keep awake when 
she was in such anguish of mind ; but the great fatigues 
and strain of the last few days and nights had told upon 
her, and, in the midst of a prayer for humility and the love 
of her husband, she was overcome by sleep. At last, at 
the hour of the first morning watch, when day was just 
beginning to break, she was startled from her slumbers by 
the sound of the trumpets giving warning of immediate 
danger. 


244 


JOSHUA. 


She rose quickly, and, glancing at her husband’s couch, 
saw that it was empty ; still it had been used, and on the 
sandy soil — for mats were spread only in the living-room — , 
shfe saw the traces of Hur’s footsteps by her own bedside. 
He must have stood close by her, and perhaps, while she 
slept, have gazed tenderly down on her face. 

This was indeed the truth ; her old slave-woman told 
her so unasked. For after she had roused Hur she had 
seen him carefully shading the lamp while he looked on 
Miriam’s face, and bent over her for some minutes, as 
though he would have kissed her. 

This was good hearing, and rejoiced the lonely wife so 
greatly that she forgot her usual calm dignity and pressed 
her lips to the wrinkled brow of the little bent old woman, 
who had done service of yore to her parents. Then she 
hastily bid her maids to braid her hair and dress her in a 
holiday robe of light blue which Hur had given her, and 
hastened forth to take leave of him. 

Meanwhile the troops had formed in order. The tents 
were being struck, and Miriam sought her husband for a 
long time in vain. At last she found him ; but he was 
deeply engaged in talk with Joshua, and, as she caught sight 
of the captain, the prophetess shuddered with a sudden 
chill, nor could she persuade herself to address the men. 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

A hard battle must be fought, for, as the spies reported, 
the Amalekites had been joined by other desert-tribes. 
Nevertheless, the Israelites were still almost twice their 
number; but how far inferior in warlike skill were Joshua’s 
troops to their opponents, inured to battle and ambush. 
The foe came up from the south, from the oasis at the foot 
of the Sacred Mountain which was the primaeval home of 
their race, their foster mother, their beloved, their all, and 
to them well worth shedding the last drop for. 

Joshua, now the captain, recognized by Moses and 
all the people as leader of the Hebrew fighting-men, led 
his newly-formed army to the widest portion of the valley, 
as this allowed him to take the utmost advantage of their 
superior numbers. The camp was removed by his orders, 


JOSHUA. 


245 


and pitched in a narrower place at the northern end of 
the valley of Rephidim, in which the struggle must be 
fought out, as this made it easier to defend the tents. He 
left the command of the camp and of the men told off to 
protect it to the prudent care of his father. 

He had wished to leave Moses and all the elders of the 
tribes safe within the precincts of the camp, but their great 
leader had gone forward with Hur and Aaron, and climbed 
a peak of granite where they could look down upon the 
fight. Thus the fighting-men could see Moses and his two 
companions on the cliff which commanded the top of the 
valley, and feel assured that the servant of the Lord would 
not cease to beseech Him to spare them and give them the 
victory. But every simple man in that host, and every 
woman and old man in the camp, in that hour of peril 
turned to the God of their fathers, and the rallying-cry 
chosen by Joshua, “ Jehovah, our Refuge,” bound the 
hearts of the warriors to the ruler of the battle, and 
reminded the most faint-hearted and unskilled among 
the fighting-men that he could not take a step nor deal a 
blow, but the Lord would mark it. 

The trumpets and cow-horns of the Hebrew host rang 
out louder and louder, for the Amalekites were pouring 
down on the level ground which was to be the field of 
battle. 

It was a strange scene for such a struggle, such as no 
experienced captain would ever willingly have chosen, for 
it was shut in on both sides by steep grey cliffs of granite 
towering up to heaven. If the foe should win, the camp, 
too, must be lost, and any benefit to be derived from know- 
ledge of warfare must here be displayed within the smallest 
conceivable space. To circumvent the enemy or surprise 
him in flank seemed quite impossible ; but even the rocks 
were turned to account by the leader, for wherever it was 
possible he had made his best slingers and archers climb 
up them to no great height, and instructed them to watch 
for a sign at which they should mingle in the fight. 

At the first glance Joshua perceived that he had not 
overrated the foe, for those who began the battle were 
bearded men, with clearly cut, manly faces, out of which 
their black eyes glowed at the enemy with wild and blood- 
thirsty hatred. And every man, like their leader himself, 
a grey-haired man of many scars, was spare and supple of 


246 


JOSHUA . 


limb. They wielded the curved sabre, the javelin of heavy 
sharpened wood, and the lance ornamented with a tuft of 
camel’s hair, like practiced warriors, and the war-cry rang 
out loud, cruel and death-defying from the deep hearts of 
these men, who felt that they must die or see their dearest 
possession in the hands of the enemy. 

At the first onslaught Joshua led forward the men 
whom he had armed with the large Egyptian shields and 
lances, and these, fired by their valiant leader, made a good 
stand, particularly as the narrow defile into the field of 
battle hindered their wild opponents from taking full 
advantage of their superior numbers. But when the men 
on foot presently withdrew, and a troop of warriors or 
dromedaries rushed down on the Hebrews, many of them 
were scared at the strange sight of these creatures, known 
to them only by description. They cast away their shields 
and fled with loud outcries, and wherever a gap was made 
the riders drove in their dromedaries and thrust down at 
the foe with their long sharp javelins. At this the herdsmen, 
unused to such an attack, thought only of saving them- 
selves, and many turned to fly, for sudden terror seized them 
as they saw the flaming eyes, and heard the shrill, malignant 
cry of the enraged Amalekite women, who had rushed into 
the fight to add fuel to their husbands’ courage and terrify 
the enemy. They held on to the humped brutes by leathern 
straps hanging down from the saddle, which they clutched 
in their left hands, and allowed themselves to be dragged 
whithersoever the riders went. Hatred seemed to have 
steeled each female heart against fear of death, compassion 
and womanly feeling ; and the hideous cry of these 
Megaeras broke the spirit of many a brave Hebrew. 

But no sooner did their captain see them give way than 
he took advantage of the disaster, and bid them retire and 
allow the savage foe to enter the valley ; for he said to 
himself that the superior numbers of his men could be 
turned to better account as soon as they had the oppor- 
tunity of pressing on the foe from both flanks as well as in 
front, and when the slingers and archers could take their 
part in the fight. 

Ephraim and the bravest of his comrades, who remained 
with him as runners, were now sent back to the northern 
end of the valley, to tell the leaders of the ranks posted 
there what Joshua proposed, and to order them to advance. 


JOSHUA. 


247 


The swift-footed shepherd lads vanished as nimbly as 
gazelles ; and it soon was seen that their captain had hit 
on the right plan; for no sooner had the Amalekites 
reached the middle of the valley than the Hebrews fell 
upon them from all sides ; several who were bravely rush- 
ing forward fell in the sand as they brandished the sword 
or spear, hit by a round pebble or a sharp arrow from 
sling or bow. 

Moses, meanwhile, kept his place on the cliff overlooking 
the battle-field, with Aaron and Hur. From thence he 
watched the fight in which he, who had grown grey in 
peaceful pursuits, could take part only with heart and soul. 
Not a movement, not a sword raised or dropped among 
friends or foes, escaped his keen eye ; but when the fray 
had fairly begun, and the captain, with wise forethought, 
had opened a way for the enemy into the midst of his own 
fighting-men, Hur exclaimed to the grey-headed man of 
God : “ My wife, your sister's lofty spirit has indeed 
discerned the truth. The son of Nun belies the call of the 
Most High. What is this ? We are the superior force, and 
yet the enemy makes his way unhindered into the very 
heart of our host. As the waters of the Red Sea stood 
aside at the word of the Lord, so do our ranks, — and, as 
it would seem, by their leader's bidding.” 

“ Only to swallow up Amalek as the waves of the sea 
swallowed up the Egyptians,” was Moses' reply. 

Then he lifted up his hands to Heaven and cried : 

“ Look down, Jehovah, on Thy people, who are in fresh 
straits. Strengthen the arm and give sight to the eyes of 
him whom Thou hast chosen to be Thy sword. Send him 
the succor Thou didst promise him when Thou didst 
name him Joshua instead of Hosea ! And if Thou dost 
no more suffer him to prove himself steadfast and strong 
as beseems the captain of Thy choice, then do Thou, with 
the hosts of Heaven, set Thyself at the head of Thy people 
that they may put their enemies to flight ! ” 

Thus the man of God besought the Lord with hands 
lifted on high, and ceased not to entreat Jehovah and cry to 
Him whose mighty will ruled His people ; and presently 
Aaron whispered to him that the foe was hard beset, and 
that the courage of the Israelites was proving itself nobly. 
Joshua was now here and now there, and the ranks of the 
enemy were visibly thinner, while those of the Hebrews 


248 


JOSHUA . 


seemed to multiply. And Hur confirmed this report, and 
added that the untiring zeal and heroic contempt of death 
of the son of Nun were beyond all praise. He had, as at 
that moment, felled one of the wildest of the Amalekites 
with his battle-axe. 

At this Moses breathed more freely. His arms fell by 
his side, and he eagerly watched the course of the fight 
which was surging and raging, tossing and waving at his 
feet. 

The sun had by this time reached its noon, and shone 
down on the combatants with scorching fires. The grey 
granite walls of the valley glowed with intenser heat every 
hour, and the sweat had long since stood on the brows 
of the three men on the rock. What, then, must the 
heat be below, adding to the labor of struggling and 
wrestling ? How sorely must the wounds ache of the bleed' 
ing wretches lying there in the sand ! 

Moses felt it all as though he himself were suffering it, 
for his immovably steadfast soul was rich in compassion, 
and he bore this people, who were of his own flesh and 
blood, and for whom he lived and labored, in his heart as 
a father does his child. The wounds inflicted on his 
brethren pained him ; yet his heart beat high with proud 
gladness as he beheld how those whose cowardly subjection 
had but a short while since so greatly fired his wrath had 
learned the arts of attack and defence. Now one band of 
young Hebrews after another rushed on the enemy with 
loud cries of “ Jehovah, our Refuge ! ” 

In Joshua’s proud, heroic form he saw the posterity of 
Israel as he dreamed and hoped it might be, and he now 
no longer doubted that the Lord had indeed called Joshua to 
be the captain of his people. Rarely had his large com- 
manding look flashed more brightly than at this moment. 

But what was that ? 

A cry of horror broke from Aaron’s lips, and Hur started 
to his feet and gazed anxiously towards the north ; for 
from the spot where the people’s tents were pitched came 
a fresh battle-cry, mingling with loud and lamentable 
shrieks, not, as it seemed, from the men alone but from 
women and children. The enemy had surprised the 
camp. 

A troop of the Amalekites had been detached from the 
main body long before the battle had begun, and had 


JOSHUA. 249 

made their way round by a mountain defile, known only to 
themselves. 

At this Hur thought of his young wife, and a vision rose 
before Aaron’s mind of Elisheba, his faithful spouse, of his 
children and grandchildren ; and both with beseeching eyes 
dumbly entreated Moses to allow them to fly to the rescue 
of those dearest to them ; but the austere chief refused, 
and kept them with him. 

Then, again, standing up, he raised his heart and hands 
once more to Heaven. With fervent prayer he cried to the 
Lord, and ceased not his entreaties ; as the minutes went 
on the more ardent was his beseeching, for all that the 
Hebrew host had won they now seemed to be losing. 
Every glance at the battle-field, everything his companions 
told him, while, with spirit uplifted to the Lord his God, 
he stood blind and deaf to the scene below, added to the 
burden of his woes. 

Joshua had placed himself at the head of a strong party 
of men and withdrawn from the fray, and with him were 
Bezaleel, Hur’s grandson, Aholiab, his favorite comrade, 
young Ephraim and Reuben, Milcah’s husband. It was 
with a heart full of blessing that Hur had marked them 
retire, for they could only have quitted the fight in order 
to succor the camp. He listened with eager ears to the 
sounds from the north, as though he divined how deeply 
he was interested in the broken cries and lamentations 
which came up from the tents on the breeze. 

Old Nun had taken up arms against the troop of Ama- 
lekites who had fallen on the camp and had fought valiantly, 
but when he perceived that the men whom Joshua had left 
under his command could no longer stand against the 
onslaught of the foe, he sent to crave reinforcement of the 
captain. Joshua forthwith entrusted the further conduct 
of the battle to Nahshon, the second chief of the tribe of 
Judah, and to Uri, the son of Hur, who had distinguished 
himself by his courage and forethought, and hastened with 
other chosen men to help his father. 

He had not lost a moment, and yet the fight was already 
decided by the time he reached the scene of the struggle ; 
for, as he approached the camp, the Amalekites had broken 
through his father’s line of defence, and cut him off from 
the tents on which they were rushing. 

First, then, Joshua rescued the brave old man from the 


250 


JOSHUA. 


foe, and next he had to drive the sons of the desert away* 
from the camp ; this gave rise* to a sharp struggle, man to 
man, and hand to hand, and he himself could be in but 
one spot at a time, and must need leave it to the younger 
fighting-men to act for themselves, each in his own place. 

Here, too, he raised the cry, “ Jehovah, our Refuge ! ” 
and rushed, shouting these words, into Hur’s tent, which 
was the first to be seized by the enemy, and round which 
the battle was fiercest. Many corpses already strewed the 
ground at the entrance, and furious Amalekites were 
struggling with a party of Hebrews, while from within 
came wild screams of terror. 

He sprang across the threshold with winged feet, and 
beheld a spectacle which filled even the unflinching man 
with terror, for, on the left of the large room it formed, 
Hebrews and Amalekites were rolling on the blood-stained 
mats in a furious struggle, white on the right he saw 
Miriam and her waiting women, whose hands the men of 
the desert had tied. The men had meant to carry them 
off as precious plunder, but an Amalekite woman, frenzied 
with hatred, revenge and jealousy, and eager to sacrifice 
the strange woman to the flames, was blowing the brands 
on the hearth, and, by waving the veil she had snatched 
from Miriam’s head, had fanned them to a considerable 
blaze. 

A fearful tumult filled the confined space as Joshua 
rushed into the tent ; on one side the yells of the strug- 
gling men, while on the other the prophetess’ women 
set up a succession of loud shrieks for rescue and deliver- 
ance as soon as they saw him coming. Their mistress, 
as pale as death, knelt at the feet of the Amalekite chief, 
whose wife was threatening them with death by fire. She 
stared at their deliverer as though a spirit had started out 
of the earth before her eyes, and the scenes which followed 
stamped themselves on Miriam’s memory as a series 
of horrible and disconnected, but never-to-be-forgotten 
images. 

First, the Amalekite chief who had bound her was a 
strange but heroic figure. With his swarthy skin and high 
hooked nose, he resembled an eagle of his native mountains ; 
his beard was black, his eyes were aflame. But ere long 
he was to measure his strength with another — with the man 
who once had been dear to her heart. She had often com- 


JOSHUA. 


2 S l 

pared him with a lion, but never had he seemed more like 
the king of the desert. 

They were both mighty men and strong. No one could 
have predicted which of them must yield to the other, 
which must win the victory ; and it was her fate to witness 
the struggle, for already the fiery son of the desert had 
shouted his war-cry and rushed upon the more cautious 
Hebrew. 

That no man may live if his heart stops beating for so 
much as a minute every child must know, and yet Miriam 
was certain that hers had stood still, rigid and turned to 
stone, when the lion rushed into peril to destroy the eagle, 
and the' Amalekite’s bright knife flashed forth, and she 
saw the blood flowing from her champion’s shoulder. 

But then her heart began to beat again, nay, and faster 
than ever before, for suddenly the lion-hearted warrior, 
whom she had so lately hated with such hatred, was once 
more, as by a miracle, the friend of her childhood again. 
Love had waked up with the sound of trumpets and 
cymbals, and marched in triumph into her heart, lately so 
desolate and forlorn. All that had held them apart was 
suddenly forgotten and buried, and never were more 
fervent appeals addressed to the Most High than in the 
brief prayer which went up from her agonized soul. And 
as her pleading was fervent, so was it immediately an- 
swered, for the eagle was down and his soaring for ever 
ended under the superior strength of the lion. 

All was dark for a while before Miriam’s eyes, and it was 
as in a dream that she felt the cords which bound her 
wrists and ankles cut by Ephraim. Then she soon recov- 
ered consciousness, and beheld at her feet the bleeding 
corpse of the vanquished chief, and in other parts of the 
tent many bodies and wounded men, among them several 
of her husband’s slaves. By them, stalwart and victorious, 
stood the brave fighting-men of her nation, with the noble 
and reverend figure of Nun, and Joshua, whose wounds his 
father was binding up. 

This task she felt should have been hers, and hers alone ; 
and deep grief and burning shame came over her as she 
remembered how greatly she had sinned against this man. 
She knew not how she could repay him, on whom she had 
brought such deep sorrow, all she owed him. Her whole 
heart longed to hear some word of forgiveness from his lips, 


252 


JOSHUA . 


and she went towards him on her knees across the blood- 
stained ground ; but the prophetess eloquent lips were 
dumb ; she could not find the right word, till suddenly the 
imploring cry rose loud from her oppressed breast : 
“Joshua ! O Joshua ! I have sinned against you indeed, 
and will repent of it all my life long, but do not scorn my 
thanks. Do not repel me from you, and, if you can, forgive 
me ! ” 

She could not have uttered another word ; but then — and 
this again she never forgot — his eyes had overflowed with 
scalding tears, and he had raised her from the ground with 
irresistible strength, and yet with a hand as gentle as a 
mother’s when her child has had a fall, and from his lips 
came mild and friendly words, promising full forgiveness. 
The mere pressure of his hand was enough to show her that 
he was no longer wroth with her, as she heard his assur- 
ance that the name of Joshua could not fall more sweetly 
on his ear from any lips than from hers. 

Then with the cry “ Jehovah, our Refuge ! ” he turned 
from her ; but his clear shout, and the enthusiastic battle- 
cry of his followers rang in her ears long after. 

At last all was still once more, and she only knew that 
never before nor after had she wept so passionately or so 
bitterly as in that hour. Moreover, she had made two 
solemn vows to the God who had called her to be His 
handmaid. But the two men whom they most concerned 
were meanwhile in the thick of the tumult of battle. 

One had led his men back from the rescued camp to 
meet the foe once more ; the other, by the side of the leader 
of the multitude, was watching the varying movements of 
the still furious fight. 

Joshua found his followers hardly pressed. In one place 
they were giving way, in another they were making but a 
half-hearted stand against the sons of the desert. Hur, too, 
was looking down with increasing and double anxiety on 
the course of the battle, for in the camp he pictured his 
wife and father in peril, and below him his son. His fatherly 
heart quaked when he beheld Uri giving way, but when he 
made a fresh onslaught, and by a well-directed attack 
broke the ranks of the enemy, he held up his head again, 
and longed to be able to shout a word of praise that he 
could hear. But what ear could be sharp enough to hear 
a single voice above the clatter of weapons and mingled 


JOSHUA. 


2 53 


battle-cries, the shrieking of the women and the wailing of 
the wounded, the surly grunting of the camels, the blare of 
trumpets and horns ? 

And now the foremost of the Amalekites had forced 
their way, like the thin end of a wedge, into the furthest 
ranks of the Hebrews. If they should succeed in breaking 
open a gap for those behind them, and effect a junction 
with those who had attacked the camp, the battle was lost 
and the fate of the Israelites was sealed ; for still another 
horde of Amalekites were in reserve at the southern end of 
the valley, who had not yet had any fighting, and who 
seemed to be intended to Drotect the oasis from the foe in 
the last extremity. 

But here was a fresh surprise. 

The men of the desert had made their way so far for- 
ward that the slingers and bowmen could scarcely hit one of 
them, and if these were not to remain idle they must be 
ordered down to the scene of the struggle. 

Hur might have called in vain to Uri to remember 
these men and give them some fresh occupation, but sud- 
denly a youth made his appearance, coming from the end 
by the encampment, a lad as nimble as a mountain-goat, 
scrambling and leaping from crag to crag. As soon as he 
reached the first man he spoke to him, gave a signal to 
those beyond, who again repeated it to the next, and 
finally they all descended into the valley and climbed the 
western cliff as far as a spot where some men were stand- 
ing ; there they vanished as utterly as though the rocks 
had swallowed them. The youth who led the slingers and 
bowmen was Ephraim. A patch of shadow on the face of 
the rock was, no doubt, the opening into a ravine, and 
through this the men were to be led whom Joshua had sent 
for to succor the camp. So thought Hur, and not he alone 
but Aaron likewise, and again Hur began to doubt whe- 
ther the Lord were indeed with Joshua, for the men who 
were to be of use at the tents were lost to the troops which 
it was now the duty of his son and of his comrade Nahshon 
to command. 

The fight round the camp had already lasted above an 
hour, and Moses had not ceased to beseech the Lord with 
hands uplifted to Heaven, when the Amalekites made a great 
rush forward. At this the leader of his people collected all 
his strength for a new appeal to the Almighty ; but he was 


254 


JOSHUA. 


much exhausted, his knees shook and his weary arms fell 
by his sides. But his spirit had all its fire and his heart 
all its fervent desire not to cease from entreating Him who 
is the Ruler of battles. The leader of his people must not 
be idle during the struggle, and his weapon was prayer. 
Like a child which will not cease from beseeching its mother 
till she has granted him that which it unselfishly demands 
for its brethren, Moses importuned the Almighty, who 
had hitherto shown Himself to be a Father to him and 
the Hebrew folk, and saving them as by a miracle from 
the greatest perils. 

But his frame was faint, so he called on his companions, 
and they pushed forward a block of stone on which he 
might sit, while he besieged the heart of the Lord with 
more and yet more prayers. There he sat ; and when his 
weary limbs refused their service his soul still answered to 
his call, and went up as in a flame to the Ruler of the des- 
tinies of man. But his arms grew more and more feeble, 
and dropped at last as if weighed down by heavy masses 
of lead, although it had for years been his habit to raise 
them heavenwards when he cried fervently to God on 
high. . 

This his comrades knew, and they thought they had per- 
ceived that, as often as their great chiefs hands sank, the 
sons of Amalek gained some new advantage. Then they 
diligently held up his arms, the one on the right hand and 
the other on the left ; and although the mighty man could 
no longer appeal to Heaven in intelligible words, and his 
giant’s frame swayed to and fro, and more than once he 
felt as though the stone on which he sat, the valley below 
him and the whole world were in movement, still his eyes 
and hands were raised on high. 

Not for an instant did he cease calling on the Most 
High till, on a sudden, from the camp there came up glad 
shouts of victory, which echoed loudly from the rocky 
walls of the gorge. Joshua had returned to the field of 
battle, and at the head of his troops rushed on the enemy 
with irresistible fury. 

From this moment the struggle assumed a new aspect. 
The decision, indeed, was still doubtful. Moses, supported 
on either side, dared not cease to uplift his heart and his 
hands, but at last, at last, the final struggle was over. The 
ranks of the Amalekites gave way, and presently they fled, 


JOSHUA . 


255 


broken and panic-stricken, to the northern pass by which 
they had entered the valley. And even from thence the 
cry came up from a thousand throats : “ Jehovah, our 
Refuge ! ” “ Victory ! Victory ! ” 

At this the man of God let his arms fall from the sup- 
porting shoulders of his companions, stood up, tall and 
strong, crying with renewed and wonderfully revived 
energy : “ I thank Thee, my God and Lord ! Jehovah, 

our Refuge ! Thy people are saved ! ” But then his sight 
grew dark from exhaustion. 

However, he presently looked up again, and saw 
Ephraim pressing close on the Amalekites, who had taken 
their stand at the southern defile, with his slingers and 
bowmen, while Joshua drove the main body of the desert- 
tribes backwards towards their vanquished brethren. 

The captain had heard from a deserter of a pass by 
which good climbers could reach a gorge leading out on 
the northern end of the battle-field, and Ephraim, in obe- 
dience to his command, had led the archers and slingers 
along this difficult path, and fallen on the rear of the last 
band of the enemy who could still have made any stand. 
Thus attacked from both sides, their ranks thinned, and 
their courage quelled, the sons of Amalek gave up the 
struggle ; and now it was seen how these children of the 
desert and dwellers among the highlands could use their 
legs, for at a sign from their leader they first killed their 
dromedaries, and then fled in all directions like feathers 
scattered by the wind. They climbed steep cliffs which 
looked inaccessible to man like the nimblest lizards, on 
their hands and feet ; but a great many escaped by the 
ravine which the deserter had betrayed to Joshua. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

The larger half of the Amalekites lay dead or wounded on 
the field of battle, and the Hebrew captain knew that the 
other desert tribes who had joined them had, as was their 
custom, abandoned their slain, and would retire to their 
own haunts- At the same time it was not impossible that 
despair might give the fugitives courage not to allow their 
oasis to fall into the hands of the Hebrews without a final 
contest. 


256 


JOSHUA, 


However, Joshua’s men were too much exhausted for it 
to be possible to lead them any further at this moment. 
He himself had lost some blood from several slight 
wounds, and the great exertions of the last few days had 
made their mark even on his iron frame. 

Besides this, the sun, which had not long risen when the 
strife began, was already sinking to rest, and if they were 
to force their way through to the oasis it would not be 
advisable to do battle in the dark. What he and, even 
more, his brave followers most needed was rest till the 
next day’s dawn. 

All about him he saw none but glad faces, beaming 
with proud self-reliance, and when he dismissed the 
ranks to retire to the camp and rejoice with those dear 
to them over the victory, the troops, which had marched 
past wearily and slowly, broke out in shouts of joy, as 
clear and glad as though they had quite forgotten the 
fatigues which had bowed their heads and weighted their 
feet. 

“ Hail to Joshua ! Hail to the Conqueror ! ” re-echoed 
from cliff to cliff long after the last of the troops was lost 
to sight. But more clearly still did the words ring in his 
heart in which Moses had thanked him, for they had 
been -: “ Verily as the sword of the Most High, steadfast 
and strong, hast thou fought the fight. So long as the 
Lord is thy Helper and Jehovah our Refuge, we need fear 
no enemies ! ” 

He fancied he still could feel on his brow and head the 
kiss of the great leader, the man of God, who had clasped 
him to his heart before all the people, and it was not a 
small thing to control the violent agitation which disturbed 
him at the end of this all-important day. 

A strong desire to stand clear in his own eyes before 
mingling with the jubilant throng, or meeting his father, 
to whom a share in every great emotion that stirred his 
soul was due, prompted him to linger on the field of 
battle. This was now a scene where gloom and horror held 
sway, for those who lingered here besides himself were 
detained by death or mortal wounds. 

The ravens which had followed the pilgrims were soar- 
ing above the bodies, and already venturing to settle on the 
rich banquet spread before them. The scent of blood had 
brought the beasts of prey out of their coverts in the hills 


JOSHUA . 257 

ana rocks, and their greedy howl or bark was to be heard 
on (2 very side. 

# Then when darkness followed on dusk, lights began to 
flit about over the blood-drenched ground. They guided 
the slaves and those who missed one dear to them to dis- 
criminate between friend and foe, the wounded and the 
dead : and many a cry of anguish from those who were 
badly hurt rose up amid the croaking of the birds of prey 
and the yells of the ravening jackals and hyaenas, foxes 
and tiger-cats. 

But Joshua knew the horrors of a battle-field and feared 
them not. Leaning against a rock he saw the same stars 
rise as had shone on him outside his tent in the camp by 
Tanis, when he stood divided against himself, face to face 
with the hardest decision in his life. Since then a month 
only had gone by, but that short space of time had 
witnessed an incredible change in his whole inner and outer 
life. All that had seemed great and splendid to him that 
night, as he sat outside the tent in which Ephraim lay in 
his fever, all that he had then deemed worthy of his most 
strenuous effort, now lay far behind him, vain and worth- 
less. He cared no longer for the honors and dignities 
with which the caprice of the weak and arbitrary king of a 
strange nation could make him great and rich. What to 
him now was the well-armed and disciplined army among 
whose captains he had numbered himself with such glad, 
pride ? 

He could scarcely believe that there had been a time 
when he had aspired to nothing higher than to command 
more and yet more thousands of Egyptian soldiers ; when 
his heart had beat high at the prospect of a new title or a 
mark of honor conferred by men whom, for the most part, 
he could not regard as worthy of his esteem. He had 
looked for everything from the Egyptians, for nothing from 
his own nation. For that night in the camp he had thought 
with repulsion of the great mass of the people who were 
of his own blood, as miserable slaves, perishing in degrading 
servitude. He had looked down in his pride even on the 
noblest of them, for they were but herdsmen, and as such 
held in contempt by the Egyptians whose feelings he 
shared. 

His own father, indeed, was an owner of beasts, and 
though he held him in high veneration, this was in spite of 

17 


JOSHUA . 


258 

his position, this was because his whole nature commanded 
respect, because the vigorous old man, with youthful fire, 
won the love of all men, and, above all, that of his grateful 
son. He had never ceased to acknowledge him gladly, 
but in all other matters he had striven so to conduct him- 
self among his brethren in arms that they should forget 
his origin, and regard him in all respects as one of them- 
selves. His ancestress, Asenath, the wife of Joseph, had 
been an Egyptian, and of this he had always been proud. 

But now — to-night? 

Now he would have made the man who called him an 
Egyptian feel his wrath ; and all which, at the last new 
moon, he would have cast from him and hidden away as 
though it were a disgrace, at this next new moon, which, 
like the last, rose in a star-lit sky, made him hold his head 
high with pride and joy. 

How grand a thought it was that he had a right to pride 
himself on being what he was ! What a standing lie, what 
an infinite treason would his life and doings as an Egyptian 
captain appear to him now ! His upright spirit rejoiced 
in the consciousness that this was an aid to that unworthy 
denial and concealment of his own blood. He felt with 
glad thankfulness that he was one of the people whom the 
Most High had chosen before all others ; that he belonged 
to a congregation of whom, even the humblest, nay, and 
every child, lifted up his hands in prayer to the God whom 
the loftiest spirits among the Egyptians veiled in the nar- 
rowest mystery, because they thought the common folk 
too weak and too dull-witted to stand before His might 
and greatness, or to comprehend them. 

And this, the One and only God, before whom the 
motley crowd of Egyptian gods sank into nothingness, 
this God had chosen him, the son of Nun, out of the 
thousands of the nation, to be the leader and protector of 
His chosen people, and had given him a name, pledging 
Himself to be his Helper. To obey his God and to 
devote his blood and life, under His guidance, to His 
people, seemed to him as lofty an aim as any man ever 
kept in view. His black eyes flashed more brightly as he 
thought of it. His heart seemed too small for all the love 
with which he would now make up to his brethren for his 
shortcomings towards them in former years. 

He had, indeed, lost a noble and lovely woman whom 


JOSHUA . 


259 


he had hoped to win, and she was the wife of another ; 
but this did not at all trouble the happy enthusiasm which 
possessed his soul ; he had ceased to desire her for his 
own, high as her image still stood in his heart. At this 
moment he thought of her with calm gratitude ; for, as he 
confessed to himself, his new life had begun on that deci- 
sive night when Miriam had set him the example of 
sacrificing everything, even what she held dearest, for God 
and the Hebrew people. 

In so far as the prophetess had sinned against him he 
had blotted it all from his memory, for he was wont to 
forget when he had forgiven. At this moment he felt only 
how much he owed her. Like some noble tree uplifting 
its head to heaven, where two hostile countries join and 
touch, so he stood between his former and his present life ; 
and although love was laid in a grave, still he and she 
could never cease to strive hand in hand for the same end, 
and to walk in the same way. 

He looked back once more on the period which he had 
just passed through, and he could say to himself that in a 
very short time, and under his leadership, a crowd of 
wretched serfs had become valiant warriors. They had 
already learned to obey promptly in the field, and to be 
justly proud of victory. And every new success must im- 
prove them. To-day, even, it seemed to him not merely 
desirable but perfectly possible to conquer a new country 
at their head, a home which they would love and call their 
own, where they might dwell in freedom and welfare, and 
become such men of valor as, by good training, he hoped 
to make them. 

Thus, among the horrors of the battle-field, under the 
moonless night, gladness, as the radiance of day, shone in 
his soul, and with the words, ** God and my people ! ” and 
a thankful upward glance at the starry vault, he quitted 
the corpse-strewn valley of death with a triumphant step, 
as though he were marching over palms and flowers cast in 
his victorious path by a thankful throng. 


2 Go 


JOSHUA 


CONCLUSION. 

In the camp he found all astir. Fires were blazing in 
front of the tents, and around them sat joyful groups, 
while many a beast was slain, either as a thank-offering or 
for an evening feast. Wherever Joshua went he was 
hailed with glad acclamations ; but he failed to find his 
father, for Nun had accepted Hur’s bidding, and it was 
outside his tent that the son embraced the old man, ra- 
diant with thankful pride. And the belated guest was 
welcomed by Miriam and her husband in a way which 
gladdened his heart ; Hur gave him his hand with hearty 
frankness, while she bowed reverently before him, and her 
eyes beamed with joy and gratitude. 

Before he sat down, Hur led him aside, ordered a slave 
who had just slaughtered a calf to divide it in two parts, 
and, pointing to it, said : — 

“You have done great things for the people and for me, 
son of Nun, and my life is too short for the gratitude you 
have laid on me and on my wife. If you can forget the 
bitter words which troubled our peace at Dophka — and 
you say you have forgotten them — let us henceforth dwell 
in unity as brothers in one cause, and stand up for each 
other in joy and sorrow, in peril and in need. The cap- 
taincy henceforth belongs to you alone, Joshua, and to 
none other; and the people all rejoice thereat, and, most 
of all, so do I and my wife. And if you share my desire 
that we should henceforth live in the bonds of brother- 
hood, come with me, and after the custom of our fathers we 
will walk together between the two halves of this slaugh- 
tered beast.” 

And Joshua gladly did his bidding ; Miriam was the 
first to join in the loud approval which old Nun began, 
and she did so with ardent vehemence ; for it was she 
who, after humbling herself before her husband, whose 
love she had now quite won back, had suggested to him to 
invite Joshua to this treaty of brotherhood which was now 
ratified- All this had cost her no pang ; for the two vows 


JOSHUA . 


261 


to which she had pledged herself after that the son of Nun, 
whom she now was ready to call Joshua, had saved her 
from the hand of the foe were about to be fulfilled, and she 
felt that it was in a happy hour that she had made them. 

The feeling, new to her, that she was a woman even as 
other women are, gave to her whole person a gentleness 
which had hitherto been foreign to her, and this won her 
the love of her husband, whose full worth she had learnt 
during the bitter time when he had opened his heart to 
her. 

At the very hour when Hur and Joshua were sealing the 
bond of brotherhood, another faithful pair had met again 
whom sacred duty had torn asunder, for while the friends 
were still enjoying their meal in front of Hur’s tent, three 
persons desired permission to speak with Nun, their lord 
and master. These were the old freed woman, who had re- 
mained behind in Tanis, with her daughter and Asser, from 
whom Hoglah had parted to stay with her feeble parents. 

Old Eliab, the father, had soon died, and then the mother 
and daughter had set forth to follow their people through 
unspeakable fatigues, the old woman riding her husband’s 
ass. Nun received the faithful souls with joy, and in the 
same hour gave Hoglah to Asser to wife. Thus this blood- 
stained day had brought blessing to many ; and yet it was 
fated to end with a harsh discord. 

So long as the fires blazed in the camp there was always 
some stir going forward, and throughout their wanderings 
hither no evening had passed without some quarrel and 
bloody fray. Wounds and death-blows had been the fre- 
quent result when one who had been insulted revenged 
himself on his adversary, when some dishonest rascal had 
seized the property of another, or refused to fulfill the 
obligations he had contracted. 

In these cases it had often been a hard matter to make 
the peace and bring the criminal to a reckoning, for the 
refractory refused to acknowledge any man, be he who he 
might, as a judge over them. Those who fancied them- 
selves injured banded together with others, and tried to 
right themselves by force. 

On this festive evening Hur and his guests at first heard 
only such a noise as every one was accustomed to hear. 
But presently, when besides the wild uproar a glare of 
light flared up close to them, the chiefs began to fear for 


262 


JOSHUA . 


the safety of the camp, so they rose up to put an end to 
the turmoil, and found themselves in the presence of a 
spectacle which filled some with rage and horror and others 
with grief. 

The triumph of victory had turned the heads of the mul- 
titude. They felt prompted to give expression to their 
gratitude to the god, and with a vivid remembrance of the 
horrible worship of their native land a party of Phoeni- 
cians among the strangers in the camp had lighted a great 
fire to their god Moloch, and were almost in the act of 
flinging an Amalekite into the flames as an offering pleasing 
in his eyes. Close at hand the Israelites had set up a clay 
image of the Egyptian god Set. which one of his Hebrew 
devotees had brought with him as a charm to protect his 
family, placing it on a tall pillar of wood. Hundreds were 
dancing round it, and singing in triumph. Their worship 
could not have been more fervent, nor the rapture of their 
souls more eager, if they had desired to pay the God of 
their fathers the thanksgiving which was His due. 

Soon after his return to the camp, Aaron had assembled 
the people to sing praises and glorify the Lord ; but the 
need for seeing an image of the God to which they might 
uplift their souls after the manner to which they had so 
long been accustomed had proved so strong in many of them 
that the mere sight of the clay idols had sufficed to bring 
them to their knees, and turn their hearts from the true 
God. 

At the sight of the worshipers of Moloch, who had 
already bound their victim, ready to cast him into the 
flames, Joshua was very wroth, and when in their dark- 
ness they refused to hear him, he bid the trumpet sound, 
and by the help of the young fighting-men, who obeyed him 
blindly, and to whom the strangers were anything rather 
than dear, he drove them without bloodshed back to their 
own quarter of the camp. 

The Hebrews yielded to the urgent exhortations of old 
Nun, Hur and Nahshon, and repented of their sin, which 
was aggravated by ingratitude. But even they took it 
amiss when the fiery old man broke the images they prized 
so dearly, and if it had not been for the love they bore his 
son and grandson, and for the honor due to his white hairs, 
many a hand would have been lifted against him. 

Moses had retired into solitude, as was his wont, after 


JOSHUA . 


263 

each peril, which by the grace of the Almighty came to a 
good issue ; and the tears rose to Miriam’s eyes when she 
thought of the grief it must cause her noble brother to hear 
the tidings of such a falling away and such deep unthank- 
fulness. A dark shadow had fallen even on Joshua’s glad 
and confident mood. He lay sleepless on a mat in his 
father’s tent, looking back on the past. His warrior’s soul 
was strengthened by the thought that a single almighty and 
unerring Power ruled the universe and the lives of men, 
and required unfailing obedience from all created things. 
Every glance at the order of nature and of life showed him 
that all things depended on one infinitely great and mighty 
Being, and rose up, moved, or lay down to rest at sign 
from Him. To him, the captain of a puny army, his God 
was the supreme and wise Captain, the only Leader who 
was always sure of the victory. How great was the sin of 
insulting such a Lord, and of going after .strange gods in 
return for his mercies ! And this was what the Israelites 
had done before his very eyes ; and as he recalled to his 
memory the doings which had compelled his intervention, 
the question arose in his mind, how might they be protected 
against the wrath of the Most High, and how could the eyes 
of the darkened multitude be opened to His wondrous 
heart and soul-inspiring greatness ? 

But he found no answer and saw no remedy, as he 
pictured to himself the perversity and rebellious spirit pre- 
vailing in the camp, which threatened to bring evil on his 
people. 

He had succeeded in reducing the fighting-men to 
obedience. As soon as the trumpet sounded, and he made 
his appearance in battle-array at the head of his troops, 
their stiff-necked will gave way to his. Was there nothing, 
then, which, in the peaceful round of every-day life, could 
keep them within the bounds which, under Egyptian rule, 
made life safe for even the humblest and weakest, and 
protected them against the high-handed and power- 
ful ? Meditating on these things, he watched till dawn 
was near, and as the stars began to set he sprung up 
and bid the trumpets sound; and to-day, as yesterday, 
they assembled without a murmur, and in full numbers. 
He was soon marching at the head of his troops through 
the narrow gorge, and after they had gone forward for 
about an hour, in silence and in darkness, they were 


264 


JOSHUA. 


refreshed by the cooler air which precedes the day. Dawn 
began to spread in the east, the sky grew paler, and 
the glowing splendors of sunrise solemnly and grandly 
rose above the majestic mass of the Holy Mountain. It 
lay spread out before the pilgrims, almost tangibly close 
and clear, with its brown crags, precipices and ravines ; 
towering above them rose its seven-peaked crown, round 
which a pair of eagles were soaring, their broad wings 
bathed in a golden glory, in the light of the new-born day. 

And again, as at Alush, a pious thrill brought the march- 
ing host to a standstill, while each one, from the first to 
the last, raised his hands in silent adoration and prayer. 

Then the warriors went on with hearts uplifted, one gaily 
calling to another in glad excitement as some pretty little 
brown birds flew to meet them, twittering loudly, an assur- 
ance that fresh water must be near. Hardly half an hour 
further on they saw the blue-green foliage of a tamarisk- 
brake, and above it tall palms, and heard at last the sweetest 
sound that ever falls on the listening ear in the desert, the 
babbling of a running stream. This encouraged them 
greatly, and the mighty form of the peak of Sinai,* its heaven- 
kissing head veiled in blue mist, filled the souls of these 
men, dwellers until nowin the level meads of Goshen, with 
devout amazement. 

They now proceeded with caution, for the remnant of 
the stricken Amalekites might be lurking in ambush. But 
there was no foe to be seen or heard ; and the only traces 
the Hebrews found of the sons of the desert and their 
thirst for revenge were their ruined houses, the fine palms 
felled and prone, and the garden-ground destroyed. 

They were forced to clear the slender trunks out of their 
path that they might not check the advance of the Hebrew 
multitude ; and when this task was done, Joshua went 
down through a defile leading to the brook in the valley, 
and up the nearest boulder of the mountain, to look about 
him, far and near, for the enemy. 

The mountain-path led over masses of granite veined 

* Now called Serbal ; not the Sinai of the monks which, in my 
opinion, was not supposed to be the mountain of the law-giving till the 
time of Justinian. A full exposition of the view that Serbal is the 
Sinai of Scripture, which was first put forward by Lepsius, and in which 
other writers agree, may be found in a volume, entitled (in German), 
“ Through Goshen to Sinai,” by Dr, G, Ebers, 


JOSHUA. 


265 


with green diorite, rising steeply till it ended high above 
the plain of the oasis, at a plateau where, by a clear spring, 
green shrubs of delicate mountain-flowers graced the wil- 
derness. 

Here he paused to rest, and looking round he discerned 
in the shadow of an overhanging rock a tall figure gazing 
at the ground. 

It was Moses. 

The course of hiS reflections had so completely rapt 
him from his present surroundings that he did not perceive 
Joshua’s approach, and the warrior reverently kept silence 
for fear of disturbing the man of God, waiting patiently 
till he raised his bearded face, and greeted him with 
dignity and kindness. 

Side by side they gazed down into the oasis and the 
desolate rocky ravines at their feet. Even a tiny strip of 
the Red Sea, which bathes the western foot of the moun- 
tains, gleamed like an emerald in the distance. And their 
talk was of the people, and of the greatness and power of 
the God who had brought them so far with such wondrous 
works ; and as they looked to the northward they could 
see the endless train of the pilgrims, slowly making their 
way along the devious way of the defile towards the oasis. 

Thus did Joshua open his heart to the man of God, and 
told him all he had thought and wondered during the past 
sleepless night, finding no answer. 

The prophet listened to him with composure, and then 
replied in a deep hesitating voice and in broken sentences : 

“ Insubordination in the camp — yes ; it is ruining the 
people. But the Lord of Might has left it in these hands 
to dash them to pieces. Woe to those who rebel. That 
Power, as stupendous as this mountain, and as immovable 
as its foundation rock — they must feel it ! ” Here the 
angry speech of Moses ceased. After they had stood for 
a while looking into the distance, Joshua broke the silence 
by inquiring : “ And what is that Power called ? ” 

And the answer came clear and strong from the bearded 
lips of the man of God : “ The Law,” and he pointed with 
his staff to the top of the peak. 

Then, with a gesture of farewell, he quitted his com- 
panion. 

Joshua, still looking out, perceived some dark shadows 
moving to and fro on the yellow sand of the valleys. 


266 


JOSHUA. 


These were the remnant of the Amalekites seeking a new 
spot where they might dwell. 

For a short time he kept his eye on them, and when he 
had assured himself that they were moving away from the 
oasis, he returned pensive to the valley. 

“ The Law,” he repeated to himself again and again. 

Yes, that was what the exiles lacked. Its severity 
might be the one thing capable of forming the tribes which 
had fled from bondage into a nation worthy of the God 
who had chosen them before all the other peoples of the 
earth. 

Here the captain’s reflections were broken off, for the 
voices of men, the bellowing and bleating of herds and 
flocks, the barking of dog and the noise of hammers came 
up to him from the oasis. The tents were being pitched, 
a work of peace in which his aid was not needed. He lay 
down in the shade of a thick tamarisk shrub above which a 
tall palm towered proudly, and thankfully stretched his 
limbs in the consciousness that henceforth the people 
would be amply cared for, in war by his good sword, in peace 
by the Law. This was much, this raised his hopes ; but no 
— this could not be all, could not be the end of everything. 
The longer he meditated, the more deeply he felt that this 
did not satisfy him for the mass of beings down there whom 
he bore in his heart as his brethren and sisters. 

His broad brow darkened again, and, startled out of his 
rest by these new doubts, he sadly shook his head. No, 
and again no ! The Law could not afford the people who 
had grown so dear to him all he desired for them. Some- 
thing else was needful to make their future lot as noble 
and fair as he had dreamed it might be on his way to the 
mines. 

But what was that something, what was its name ? 

And now he began to rack his brain to find out ; but 
while, with closed eyes, he allowed his thoughts to 
wander to those other nations whom he had seen in war 
and in peace, to discover what the one thing was still lack- 
ing to the Hebrew folk, sleep fell on him, and in a dream 
he saw Miriam and another lovelier form resembling Kasana 
as he had often seen her flying to meet him, a pure and 
innocent child, and after her ran the white lamb which his 
father had given his favorite years since. The two figures 
each offered him a gift, and bid him chose one or the other. 


JOSHUA . 


267 


In Miriam’s hands was a heavy gold plate, and on the top 
of it in letters of flame he saw written, “ The Law.’’ She 
held it forth to him with gloomy gravity. The child offered 
him a drooping palm-leaf, such as he had often carried in 
token of truce. 

The sight of the table of the law filled him with pious 
awe ; but the palm branch waved invitingly in his eyes, 
and he seized it quickly. Hardly had he grasped it when 
the figure of the prophetess vanished into thin air, like a 
mist wafted away by the morning breeze. He gazed in 
anxious surprise at the spot where she had stood, amazed 
and uneasy at the strange choice he had made, though 
feeling that he had decided rightly. 

Then he asked the child what her gift might signify to him 
and the people. At this she signed to him, pointing to the dis- 
tance, and spoke three words, in a gentle sweet voice which 
went to his heart. But strive as he might to seize their 
meaning he could not succeed, and when he desired the 
vision to interpret them he awoke at the sound of his own 
voice, and made his way back to the camp, disappointed 
and puzzled. 

In later days he often sought again to remember these 
words, but always in vain. 

The whole force of his body and soul he devoted to the 
Hebrew folk ; but his nephew Ephraim, as a powerful 
prince of his tribe, well worthy of the honor he achieved, 
founded a house in Israel. Through him old Nun saw 
great-grandchildren growing up who promised enduring 
posterity to his noble race. 

The rest of Joshua’s active life, and how he conquered a 
new home for his people, is a well-known tale. 

And there, in the land of promise, many hundred years 
later, was another Joshua born who brought to all mankind 
the gifts which the son of Nun vainly sought for the 
children of Israel. In the three words spoken by the child, 
and which the captain of the host failed to interpret, were 
“ Love, Mercy and Redemption ! ” 


THE END. 

















PARIS 


1889 


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